Vietnam Ha Giang Organic Black

Still working through my long overdue backlong of teabox teas, so this is another sample from the Discovery Teabox (thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed!) I am a fan of Vietnamese blacks and was excited to be able to sample this one!

2.5g sample brewed Western in 350ml 205F water for what should have been 3 minutes, but I got interrupted so it was probably closer to 5 (longer than I typically brew black teas, so hopefully this didn’t turn out too tannic for me!) It has a lovely malty, honey-sweet aroma, with a bit of a marmalade jam note and almost a barbecue-esque aroma. The flavor has a bit of malt, with some notes of leather, smoke, orange peel, and pepper, with a medium astringency and a subtle minerality left after the sip.

I wish I hadn’t steeped it quite so long since this is a rather hardy black, but it is still a pleasant flavor. A good breakfast tea! Thanks for the sample, tea_sipper!

While this is an interesting tea, its a bit hard to describe. A cross between yellow tea and lapsang? Its roasty and hay up front and smooth toasty caramel at the end. There is a bit going on here, hard to distinguish individual notes. I might have brewed this a bit strong, and the roastyness comes through. Perhaps the toasty creme brulee ending would be more pronounced with a bit less leaf. As for this cup, there is enough bitterness that it tastes like the top of the creme brulee has been burnt. The second steep is the same burnt caramel taste but weaker.

Saved a small portion of this from the tea box. There was a little bitterness, which I fixed with some sugar. It’s quite pleasant! I often add milk to black tea, but I didn’t need to for this one. It’s not the sort of thing that I would buy, but that’s what sampling from tea boxes is for!

Okay, this tea is insanely delicious. It tastes like a very expensive cup of tea and it definitely is not expensive from S&V. Wow. Just the complexity alone amazes me, and I will not be able to capture that complexity here. The fragrance of the dry leaves is something very different from the usual plain black tea, that I have not noticed before.. the smell is almost like what heated raisins might smell like? A fragrance I’ve never noticed in any tea! The leaf is on the smaller size with an occasional gold hint here and there. The flavor is intoxicating: I think it’s most similar to a really good assam: that slightly brisk, slightly fruity, sweet assam that I love to keep in stock. But this tea is more unique than that. It’s just so tough to capture the complexity of this tea. It has bite, but it’s also very sweet. Slight fruity juiciness but also a bready quality. I love teas like that and I will be keeping this one in stock. It might be one of those teas that are the fresher, the more complex the flavor (but that probably goes for all teas.) Is it enough for me to say it is so good? You should try some!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 13 minutes after boiling // 3 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep