This is another one of the teas I got from TeaEqualsBliss in a trade.
I don’t know much about Nilgiri tea apart from the fact that it supposedly has a bit of a citrusiness and that 52Teas uses it as the base for their black tea blends. The dry leaves are so small that at first I thought they were CTC, but on closer inspection they’re just small leaf pieces. It doesn’t seem to have much of a scent, either dry or while steeping. I stood there for like a minute sniffing the tea and probably looking quite silly, but all I could pick up was a bit of a faint, sweet and slightly woodsey scent.
The brewed tea looks very red in my white ceramic mug; it’s a lovely deep shade that reminds me of red wine. The taste is fairly light for a black tea, with the start of each sip reminding me a bit of Darjeeling tea -but not as astringent. Then it turns slightly toasty before ending with an almost fruity note.