Help! Can you describe what malty tastes like?

I appreciate all of the replies. I still don’t think I have it down, but you all have given great suggestions. I am keeping all of these on my radar. As two of you have mentioned getting some malted milk balls, I think I’ll really be on the lookout for those. I also hope to try an Assam sometime soon.

All of that top note, middle note stuff still whizzes right over my head, though. One of these days, I’ll have to look up.

I just had a tea today that I think helps me pin down the malty flavor. It’s a Lapsang Souchong, but it doesn’t taste smoky at all; as a matter of fact, both the aroma and the taste remind me of a smell when I used to work close to a brewery. Recently, I’ve been brewing beer with a friend, and the taste of this tea also reminds me of the taste of the unfermented liquor before it becomes beer (which I think is called the ‘wort’). As you have mentioned, LiberTEAS, it does have a kind of grain like taste. My guess is: this is what malty tastes like.

Any comments?

I’m in the “tastes like coffee” camp. The way I figured it out was I got an Assam sampler pack from Upton, since everyone says Assams are the ones with all the maltiness. There’s a sort of generic Assam in it (the only one not from a named estate) and oh boy did it taste like coffee! At first, anyway. It’s also prominent in the Baker Street Afternoon Blend, along with the smokiness from the Lapsang Souchong element.

I’ve come to really enjoy it now. Just ordered some Chinese and a Ceylon to contrast. And some of Upton’s Golden Monkey, just to see if my love for Teavana’s GM is a once off. ;)

Exactly Jaylist. My dad used to grind barley malt in the kitchen at home when making his own beer, and this is exactly the note I pick up in assams and look for.

Reviving the malty discussion maybe…

I associate maltiness with a kind of caramelized sweetness combined with an earthy umami-ness.

Anybody concur?

In search of all things malty….

When I think of malt I immediately think of a brewery. I lived very close to a brewery for 5-6 years and that malty aroma is the first thing I would smell as soon as I left the house for work. So when I get a malty taste it reminds me of the aroma of a brewery.

I usually find Da Hong Pao has a roasted barley flavor, don’t know if this helps. It is usually black tea that has a malty flavor.