Pure Assam

Thank you so much Nicole for sharing this tea!

I decided to try a new tea today because I’m happy it’s Friday. This just happened to be what I picked up first out of my samples. I’m the only one in the office at the moment, making it the perfect tea time.

First of all, the dry leaf smells awesome. I think its because of the surprise ReadMyLips in the same package that scented this tea with yummy chocolate!
Brewed in my favorite big Seattle mug using a T-sac, and followed the 1 minute brewing instruction. Was pleasantly surprised to see the tea become the perfect color in that short amount of time. This made me happy after having lately tried some other really weak black teas I bought that brew disappointingly light after even 4 minutes.

Onto the taste, wow! I love it! Now I know that I like Assam tea, having never had pure Assam before that I know of. It’s so silky and satisfying and I can taste a hint of chocolate. I absolutely love that the chocolate infused this tea a little and I’m going to start storing some teas together in their own bags but in the same tin. Does anyone else do that?

I just brewed it again for 2 minutes now and it’s still good. Nice to have some real tea. Thank you again Nicole!

Another from Nicole! I really love assam, it’s my favorite unflavored type of black for sure. While I am quite loyal to my Captain Assam, I know it’s not going to be around forever so I’d like to find a good substitute for the horrible day when my tin runs out (actually I’m almost there!) and there are no more for sale.

This is a nice assam, perhaps a bit lacking on the strong, malty molasses notes I look for usually. In fact, this is pretty light for an assam, without any of those “WAKE UP!” flavors I’d expect. It’s a nice tea and I’m happy to have tried it, but it doesn’t quite have the punch I was hoping for.

Enjoying the fact that the hotel room I’m staying in has something other than Lipton. If it was for more than a day, I would have brought some tea tools, but I new I’d be near a teavana and caribou and would survive a day with out my own teas.

This is a lighter Assam. It holds up to a splash of cream and packet of sugar to be just what I need to clear my hea this morning. They also have a peppermint which I will have next to help with the sniffles I have.

thank you Nicole for sending me some of this in the stash reduction! I brewed this for 3 or 4 minutes. It says one minute! What? I need to be awake! It may be slightly oversteeped tasting, but that’s the way I like my black teas. The steep color is a deep red-hinted brown. The flavor is delicious. It is a full black flavor, with a hint of something fragrant. I think assams are a bit sweeter than other black teas, based on the few assams I’ve tried. I think I like they better than other black teas, just as long as they still have a kick to them. This one does! Upon the first sip, I definitely felt more awake!

ETA: I tried this with some oatmeal today. That was before I saw Momo had Celestial Seasonings tea with oatmeal today.. but it was an idea I had from her a few months back. I haven’t had maple &brown sugar oatmeal since I was a kid and I forgot how good it is. I’m not sure if I got much of a tea flavor with those flavors. I’ll have to try it with the steelcut oatmeal that I usually have. I almost also chose 52Teas Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal today, when I was choosing a tea this morning. So I can’t wait to try that one!

Honestly, my expectations of this tea? Not so high. I mean, sure it is loose and (at least in the US) not your every day stuff. But still, it’s only $6 and change for 4oz and something I picked up at the grocery store so I’m not expecting angels to sing.

And while there were no celestial choirs, this tea surprised me. It smelled cardboard-y and cuddly so that’s good. But I was expecting it to taste a bit flat, maybe a bit rough and bitter. Nope. I did add sugar (one tsp for 12oz) but it had it’s own sweetness out side of the sugar, and I used half and half but really, I couldn’t detect any roughness hiding underneath it (tannins yes, roughness no). More malty than cardboard-y (a little more lightness and rounded flavor is the main difference there I suppose) with a little sweetness and nuttiness, I enjoyed my cup. The tea was strong and a little aggressive but only in a good, robust morning tea way, not in a “mommy, make the scary man go away” way. And the caffeine was sneaky and very there (which is good because that means I can postpone my nap until after lunch).

At some point I’ll give this a try straight but I don’t know how much that will influence my overall enjoyment of this tea (of course, I am assuming it will be less pleasant with no sugar or milk… I could be wrong). This tea pretty much fits my idea of a nice, wake-me-up, robust but not overly special morning tea.

On top of that, it seemed like a good tea to have since this song came up on my iPod this morning: http://vimeo.com/794351 When I say ‘Assam’, you say ‘lovely’!

Pretty average. A wee bit bitter and astringent and definitely not top-notch. A high step above your average bagged teas, but well below the Assams I usually buy.

@studawg bought this for me. Nice, black tea.

After months of drought, a summer’s worth of noisy storms and rain hit about bedtime last night, so I broke out the big guns this morning to propel myself out the door. This is really strong for a bagged tea, and maybe a little astringent for an Assam. (I haven’t steeped it enough times to land on what I consider perfect steeping parameters.) All the same, with milk, it’s doing its job.

Delicious full bodied tea from a bag, who knew?

Black, Malty, and Strong… just as it said on the box.

Not a fan though. Probably because I’m not a huge fan of the malt taste.

I think I’ll pass this off to the spouse. He might like this one but it’s not for me.