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Well, it’s getting cold here and I’m still drinking as much Assam as I can manage. I bought this one back in either late spring or early summer and I started on it last week. From the first sip onward, I was not impressed, so I decided to work my way through a couple of other sipdowns and then pick it up again. Allowing this tea to sit for about a week helped it a little, but not much.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion I tend to prefer for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped a heaping teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. Tealyra recommends using one standard teaspoon and only steeping for 2-3 minutes, but I did not get much out of this tea using their brewing guidelines, so I resorted to the method outlined above.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves gave off a slightly musty, leafy scent. There was not much else to note. After infusion, I picked up on faint scents of malt, autumn leaves, wood, leather, and roasted nuts. In the mouth, the flavors were very weak. It took some time, but I was just barely able to pick out notes of autumn leaf pile, leather, roasted nuts, malt, tobacco, cream, and some sort of mild spice.

I have no clue what the deal was here. This tea did not even remotely smell or taste like an Assam. It barely smelled or tasted like anything. I keep thinking that it maybe was stale, but I have not even had this tea a year and I was as careful as always in storing it. I also did not pick up any musty or stereotypically old flavors, so who knows? Looking at Tealyra’s description, they do not mention much in the way of aroma or flavor, so perhaps this tea is just a dud. I know that it still packed one hell of a caffeine wallop whatever the case. The only things I see this Assam being good for are blending into another black tea to add some additional kick, making a very spice forward masala chai, or drinking straight exclusively for the sudden caffeine pick-me-up.