Kenyan Tinderet

A decent tea, but not terribly exciting. Smooth, buttery. Accentuated by milk.

I wrote this yesterday and forgot to post it – oops.

I’m learning from past mistakes and starting to steep these straight teas on the short end of their recommended timing, so this one was 200 at 3 minutes. I was startled by how the water turned immediately deep brown as I poured – very pour-over coffee vibes. Definitely could have gotten away with less leaf.

It’s a strong, black tea. I got astringency and bitterness right up front. I’ve been sipping while reading other tasting notes, trying to figure out where I might notice “malt” or “honey”, but it’s just – black tea to me. While it reminds me visually of coffee and definitely has that acidity in the flavor profile, it’s otherwise tea all the way.

I feel like this has more potential for me as an iced tea; I want something stronger for a black iced tea before I dilute with ice and fruit and other flavors. I was too cold today to try it that way though, and hot it’s just not working for me.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 5

Very bitter, even when steeped a second time. Makes me think of an average bagged black tea, just slightly better. The first few sips are actually quite enjoyable, especially if you drink it first thing in the morning, but it goes downhill from there—definitely not a tea you want to let get cold, or even lukewarm.

Almond&cashew milk and sugar made for a decent but unremarkable latte.

Bold and “heavy.” Good for a change but not one I would drink regularly.

Used a free cup of tea on this, cause I hadn’t tried it before. I think it steeped to long, cause it was very strong. But still drinkable. I had agave in it, and it tasted earthy and malt like. I’ll have to have this again before I decide if I like it or not. Next time I’ll steep it for less time.

Full-bodied high-altitude tea, coppery, dry leaves smell like warm straw and honey. My favorite Davids Tea, as its flavour is not masked with added flavourings, it’s just pure Kenyan goodness. Lovely with or without milk, hot or cold. I should add that I am primarily a wine drinker, that drinks espresso when I’m not drinking wine. I do appreciate a wonderful blend but prefer when the tea stands alone and doesn’t need correction or blending. This tea is pretty close to perfection, in my opinion, and I felt compelled to sign up and leave it a good review after reading all the poor reviews it was getting. You can taste the sunshine, the copper in the soil, and the thin air.

Too much like straight black tea for my liking.

Disclaimer: I’m far from a tea connaisseur/enthusiast. My notes are not meant to be a review for the tea community, but rather for myself so I know what to buy or not buy again (I wish there was a way to keep notes private).

I picked up 100g of this as I’d noticed that many award winning breakfast teas (i.e. Thompson/Punjana) use Kenya tea in their blends. Thought I’d try a Kenyan straight up. I was encouraged to see it was a CTC as I like my tea northern England strong. Well shiver me timbers, this doesn’t disappoint for strength, but there are many qualities in this tea I dislike intensely. I too felt maybe I’d brewed it too long (despite the 4-7 minute brew time Davids sets). I tried it twice. First time 1.5 tsp at 2 minutes and then 2.5 tsp at a little over 6 minutes. (Davids says brew 4-7 minutes). The only taste difference was the longer brewing brought out massive astringency and an overall very assertive experience. I do get that honey taste, a strong honey. This tea has a good nose, and I was expecting the tea of my life. I really wanted to be wowed, but not to be. I agree with David’s assessment of “dirt” and earthy in the tasting notes, but startlingly I’m getting a taste reminiscent of how cow dung smells. Maybe that is used as a fertilizer at the plantation? Someone else noted the missing “malt” flavour and I agree with that. I would have thought for sure “malt” would be what this tea brings to a breakfast blend, but not this. Possibly a talented tea blender could use this in a breakfast mix. Not pleasant straight up. Having said that, I will try again, brewing 1.5 tsp for 3 minutes (instead of2.5 for 6, however the shorter brew time with less tea that I tried first resulted in the “dung-y” taste so not holding out much hope. Still – intriguing tea.

#ProjectTeaWall

I’ve had Kenyan black tea before; a lot actually. In particular, it was a type of black tea we explored very thoroughly in my Sommelier courses – but this is my first time trying DT’s offering of it. From previous experience, I find Kenyan blacks to be very full bodied and brisk, with strong malt and dry citrus notes so that’s what I was looking for.

First impression was that this one is rather astringent. It doesn’t take over the entire cup, and does seem a bit more muted as the liquor cools, but the first half of this cup definitely left my mouth with that dry pucker-y feeling after each sip.

The flavour is definitely robust and full bodied with brisk malty and raisin notes. The tea description mentions this one having floral character but I didn’t really observe that at all. The pithy lemon/citrus notes I was keeping an eye tastebud? out for made an appearance as a lemon rind like note in the finish of the sip. It also felt a touch brassy, overall. Overall, this isn’t my favourite straight black offering that we carry by a long shot but I do think it keeps in line with other Kenyan blacks I’ve previously tried, and I bet with some milk and maybe honey it could make a really nice, interesting morning cup of tea.

Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

I will finally live near a DAVIDsTEA! I picked this one up (and 3 others) while I was up in Connecticut looking for an apartment. I love this tea so much, it’s very malty and pleasantly bitter. I think my excessive Keemun consumption has resulted in a love for medium strength black teas. This tea was by no means weak in strength, but it did not make me jittery and uncomfortable either. I was able to get 3 good steeps out of the tea, and can’t wait to drink more tomorrow and buy a huge stash of it in 3 weeks when I move back to the Northeast.