Southern Malt

Now this is a great way to start the morning. Like the morning light rising above the horizon. It starts of gentle on the palate with with calming woodsy notes. The sun rises more and the astringency sets in but only slightly. Slight hints of compost and wet woods. Soft mouth feel. The wet aroma is very light. Reminds me of the smell of the woods after a campfire.

Another sample I bought from Teakruthi!  I’m very glad they have sample sizes.  This also had the fragrance of basil in the leaf — same as Wild Monsoon that I had the other day.  So I wanted to visually compare the leaves of the two.  They both look similar, but the Wild Monsoon has a bigger/longer leaf.  Of course, they are both Ceylon, as all of Teakruthi’s teas are Ceylon.  Do not let that fact sway you from trying their teas.  I would say in the past, I was least interested in Ceylon tea as a type, but most of Teakruthi’s teas that I’ve tried have been unique and very delicious. The first cup here was so so much basil!  It’s amazing there isn’t any actual basil here.  It was like smooth tomato soup with basil.  The brew was a bright orange.  I’d say there was a lot more basil here and none of the caramelized strawberry flavor that Wild Monsoon has.  This time I tried to overcorrect with the astringent second steep of Wild Monsoon and went for a much cooler brewed second steep and the flavor wasn’t anything tasty at all, even losing most of the basil, so I definitely should have went for a hotter steep with this one.  I’m in love with the savory basil flavor of the first cup though. Excellent first steep, bland second. But I will try again soon to retry.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 27 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 16 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

I have been in a tea-drinking rut for months now (the same things over and over, didn’t really seem worth posting about) but I finally made a little effort and ordered in some new loose leaf. I thought this tea shipped out of Canada, but it actually arrived straight from the source, Sri Lanka.

I’ve been enjoying this one a lot. It’s slightly on the light side, but still has a rich malty flavor. I couldn’t really pick up the raisin notes that others have commented on, but I just started the bag and it often takes me a few attempts to taste all the aspects of a tea.

Also, shameless plug: I got a tea tray printed up with one of my digital paintings and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. I’m always dubious about ordering things from the printers but they did a great job. https://www.instagram.com/p/CB6RTMeharK/

In these quarantine times, I, like so many others, have watched many TikTok videos. I have also been trying a bunch of new recipes. Sometimes those two things converge, such as with the Dalgona coffee. Today it happened again as I attempted the one-pan egg sandwich that seems so simple when people cook it on the app.

As to be expected, it wasn’t so simple to makes and there were some kinks that I’ll need to correct next time but all in all, the sandwich was good. This tea, which is also good, accompanied the sandwich. Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-rvTUNAHpV/?igshid=17wmz9hg2348s

It’s sweet and malty. A little raisin, some baked bread, and some sweet potato. And malt. A lot of malt which is to be expected given the name. As it cools, it gets a touch astringent which gives it a leather sort of finish. Not life-changing amazing but still a solid black tea option.

S is for… Southern Malt!

Sipdown (1395)!

Such a rich, classic and smooth feeling malt bomb! I was having a stressful morning one of the days last week and I just really wanted a cup of something straight and black that would feel grounding as I sipped it and I was delighted to see this as an option. It’s not really a “fancy” feeling or tasting tea to me – there’s not much complexity or layering of flavour. It’s just… solid. Very solid.