Ceylon Super Single

The dry leaves smell fruity. This is good – one of the first Ceylons I had tasted strongly of raspberry and, while I am not a huge raspberry fan, that tea pretty much set the standard for ‘good’ Ceylon in my world. Something beyond a plain ‘tea’ taste. This one isn’t quite raspberry smelling – the scent is a little bolder and thicker than your average raspberry. I can’t place it but I like it. The leaves are pretty, too. Long and wiry twists each at least an inch long.

The cup smells a bit darker than the dry leaves. Nothing excessive. There’s a bit of brown sugar smell, or something similar. The taste is sweet and mild with a hint of dryness at the end that might develop more with a longer steep (if you’re in to that sort of thing). The main flavor is tea but it’s got some fruity or honeyed hints about it. I can’t specifically pick out what type of sweetness is in there, but it is close – I feel like it is teasing me.

I haven’t had a ton of straight Ceylons (4 or 5 maybe) but I’d have to say that this one would rank #2 in that grouping. Not quite the dripping with raspberry but not flat and fully default tea either. Overall though, I’m just not all that into Ceylons. I think I want to try this with milk as Samovar suggests. So rating subject to change.
2.8g/8oz

I’ve had this sitting in a little bowl on my counter that is overflowing with other samples on my short list of things to try for a couple of weeks now. I decided that today was the day, since I’m celebrating the demise of two boxes of bagged black tea today from my “starter” teas.

I haven’t (knowingly) had a Ceylon black before by itself, though it does make appearances in black blends so I’m sure I’ve tasted it intermingled with other things. But solo, this is a first.

I really liked the look of the dry leaves. They’re dark and pretty and vaguely twiggy. I thought they’d make a very attractive nest for a very small bird, or a lovely, very small basket if they could be woven into such a thing. This may sound odd, but their smell is warm. The air around them gives off the impression of being some degrees warmer than the surrounding air. I haven’t experienced this before and thought it was a cool thing. They don’t have a very loud smell, in fact they’re less aromatic than just about all the other Samovar samples I’ve tried, as I recall. They do have a fruity smell, that is also somewhat like tobacco. Like a fruit flavored pipe tobacco. Cherry maybe.

After steeping, the aroma is of carmelized sugar, and a high, somewhat “narrow” note that might be wine or might be citrus. The tea is a lovely clear reddish tea color. A deep coppery color.

There’s a vaguely metallic note to the taste, though I must admit that I’m not sophisticated enough in my tasting of metals to be able to distinguish iron from zinc from copper. It’s a full, sweet flavor, with some malt, and some tang which could be either the aforementioned wine or citrus. It’s not as smooth as the other Samovar blacks I’ve tasted (which smoothness I had come to regard as a sort of trademark) but this could also be because I steeped this one a bit longer than I did the others because I was feeling adventurous today. Still, it’s not bumpy either. Not harsh. There’s a bit of toastiness and a coffee-like quality, not so much in the taste as in the overall impression of the flavor and body.

But is there raspberry?

Yes, with this caveat. My mother was a big crossword puzzle worker and she used to tell me that to be good at crossword puzzles you had to “throw your mind out of focus” a little, to be receptive to meanings you might not think of initially. To get the raspberry taste while the tea was hot, I had to throw my mind out of focus a bit. It’s there in the aroma, and in the aftertaste.

And, as I just discovered when I sipped what was left in the cup after typing to this point, it’s much more readily identifiable when the tea is cooler.

Wet, the leaves have an interesting reddish tinge. One of the other notes mentioned they smelled like tomatoes, so I had to give them a sniff. They do! (More like tomato sauce to me, actually.)

It’s not my favorite Samovar black, but it’s still an excellent drink. Onto the shopping list it goes.

This is going to sound awfully staged, because Auggy and I just had a small conversation about how she was wishing that Andrews & Dunham’s Ceylon had a bit of a fruity note in it. She had specifically mentioned raspberry.

I’d suspect that this could be a potential victim of the power of suggestion, if it weren’t for the fact that this tea had an undeniable note of raspberry in it. I have yet to have had a Ceylon that has had this much depth to it. Other ones I’ve tried had been rather one note. [I think teaplz likes to use the term “default black” and that is what I think of when I think Ceylon. Or was. It’s changing now.]

Every now and then, I get a little hint of bitterness that almost hinges on a kind of metallic taste [that I think is the coppery tang they reference in the description]. But otherwise, it is very smooth, with that default black taste and fruitiness.

I’ll have to watch out for the honeydew and burnt sugar next time steep this, because I was somewhat distracted when I was drinking this and didn’t make it to a second steep before having to run out and finish some errands. I know this, because my “notes” [if you can call them that] read as such:

200F | 4 minutes
pay attention next time
and steep it again
smooth
omg raspberry.

You know what? That sums it up rather nicely, so I’m just going to stop.

Oh, except to say that Samovar has samples available on some [not all] of their teas now. Holla.

After being wowed by Samovar’s blends, it’s time to try one of their purebreds. The company’s notes remark on a raspberry flavor in this one, which definitely sounds enticing. The leaves are very dark, and have a light but distinct malty and fruity aroma.

The liquor is also dark, and has an unusually light scent after four minutes – just some hints of bread and jam. The first sip throws me a bit because it’s also very light. Yes, it’s black tea! But what else is wrapped up in there? I am searching for the elusive raspberry but not getting very close to it. I am finding a juicy feel that brightens up the flavor, and I like that a lot. As it cools flavors in the spice/malt direction are coming to the fore. It’s a very tasty cup, even if I can’t find the raspberry bushes…

It is spring break at the University I work at, and no students = no work! I am bored to tears. I have already tidied my desk, organized my email and read the entire internet, and it’s only 2:20!!!

I’ll make some tea!

This one courtesy of the amazing takgoti too!!!!

The first thing that I noticed is that the leaves are gorgeous. Long dark and wiry!!

I am taking some sips before I add any additions because I filled my cup up too much! Mmmmm!!! I am getting a smooth lemony flavor. I have now added some sugar and milk and it’s a little weak for my tastes. I’m getting that lemon powdered sugar that I get with teas that aren’t as robust as I like. I think I should have taken it with a touch of sugar and no milk. Noted for next time because I have about 2 teaspoons of leaves left :) This will be nice to try for the days when I don’t have milk with me at work but want a black tea. I bet this would also be super iced.

Yesterday was a big day. Had a tea party, made lots of food, and then went out all night. I need a caffeine kick to do homework… samovar sample again! I really am going to place an order with them when i’m done. They are just too good.

not a bad taste. It’s got a spiciness to it, and there is some sweetness to it which i’m not a huge fan of. It has sort of a weird aftertaste as well. The sweetness from the fruit give it a somewhat tart taste, but it is hardly noticeable. It’s not a bad tea, but it’s not amazing.

I had no idea what to expect from this tea because I’ve never actually tried pure Ceylon tea before. If my first impressions were to write this entry, I’d say my initial reaction when I took a smell of the leaves was “wow… that’s a smokey aroma, kind of like a lighter version of Lapsang Souchong”.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get the raspberry taste from this. It could have been for reasons similar to Ricky (other review) where I may have steeped this for too long, but I don’t think I went too overboard with it.

The actual taste I’m getting is an interesting hybrid of Samovar’s Breakfast Blend and Ancient Gold. And as Morgana pointed out, the leaves DO look really interesting.

I was a little disappointed with the re-steeping ability of this tea (I only got 2 good steeps out of it) but again, that might just mean I have to go easy on the initial steep next time.

I’ll have to try this one again some time.

Dry leaves smell like sandlewood. Wet, they smell like tomatoes. Liquor brews up pale reddish amber and has a bit of the tomato smell of the leaves along with a salty smell similar to the Adagio Irish Breakfast I had earlier. I’ve had other breakfast blends with a similar nose. Is this characteristic of Sri Lankan Teas? The flavor is bright but fairly neutral. I do get a hint of raspberries. A roasty aftertaste that dissipates quickly.