Yay, I got my Capital Tea Limited order! I was a bit worried because it never said it was shipped, so I was very happy to find it in my mailbox after coming home from my holiday travels. This is a tea that I chose based on the description (a lot of the others were recommended to me, either by yyz or by Joel at Capital Tea). What can I say, I’m a sucker for any tea that claims to be smooth and sweet! 20 grams is a lot more tea than I expected, especially since Joel sent me two extra 20g samples with my order. Anyway, this tea… My sample looks identical to the picture – long and thin leaves that are mostly dark brown/grey in color with some golden spots. Dry scent is yummy with very strong dried apricot notes and a touch of savory aroma. The package recommends a 3-4 minute steep, but I stuck to the shorter end because I know Assam in general has a tendency to get astringent easily.
Yum, this is very tasty! I admit, I have little experience with Assam, which is why I chose multiple to try (as well as multiple Ceylons, another genre I’m unfamiliar with). There’s definitely a strong malt flavor, which I generally expect from Assam. I can taste a fair bit of astringency, but it’s not bothersome, perhaps a 3 out of 10 on the astringency scale? What I really enjoy about this tea are the strong dried fruit flavors, particularly dried apricot. It really reminds me of eating apricot fruit leather, and goes quite well with the molasses notes that are also present. It’s definitely a richly-flavored tea with lovely strong fruit notes, and it’s full-bodied without being too much and needing milk to smooth out the flavor. Yummy! And the price is fantastic, too!
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Dried Fruit, Malt, Molasses
