I went into the office today, which sadly meant I had to be away from my Breville loose leaf tea maker. Even sadder, my only tea options were those of the bagged persuasion. My fiancee gave me a sample tea bag of Sorwathe Rwanda black tea to try so I decided to turn my misfortune into adventure.
This tea is Fairtrade Certified and an Ethical Partner Participant. It is also certified by the Rwanda Bureau of Standards. I wasn’t sure what all of that signified, but I was hopeful that it meant good things inside the tea bag.
I steeped this tea for six minutes at approximately 200 degrees. I figured that was about as high a temperature as the hot water button on the office Flavia machine could muster. The tea that resulted was very dark and almost brown in color. It had a thick appearance and taste. The flavor was overwhelmingly malt. Despite the strong malted dominance of the taste, I didn’t experience any bitterness. I like malt to be PART of the flavor of my tea but I don’t want malt to be the ONLY flavor of my tea.
In my humble opinion, the tea would be much more enjoyable and interesting if there were at least undertones of other tastes within. This tea isn’t terrible, but it is a one horse ride to Mediocreville.
