Illam Nepal

Thank you IndigoBloom for this exotic Sample!

Early this morning the lightning and thunder (the flash first) woke me up. Crash, flash and I was unplugging the appliances not hooked into circuit breakers (we didn’t have ground lightening in San Jose, CA.) then I went back to bed and woke again to gentle rain. This is my favorite type of weather for tasting puerh or malty tea’s. So comforting don’t you agree?
Indie-Bloom (I think I’ll write a Bollywood Movie for her to star in…she’s cute and young)…sent me this Nepalese tea that is a bordering Darjeeling growing territory. What would that mean for the tea flavor I wondered?
Curious like a feline, I set my timer for a 4 minute steep and waited…anticipating an interessting 24oz pot of tea! “Brrring” the timer rang ready.
The aroma (not a scent…it was much too manly for that) was very malty indeed which was sensually exiting. I do so love the malty tea’s as I’ve said over and over before.
I gulped the first taste…like I was drinking a cold beer on a hot day. (Amazing I didn’t burn my mouth). The flavor was just as malty as I wanted it to be, salty with a big rich muscat finish. There was so little astringency that it took several sips before I noticed any at all. The tea is naturally sweet from the maltiness like good honey wheat bread and still I added a bit of morning sugar and cream because I’m a spoiled woman. I like my tea my way especially in the morning.

This is darjeeling…and not. A malty black tea, and not. It appears to be both married with muscat wine sans any smoke or heavy astringency. I would like to see others review this tea and give an opinion. I think it is unique and different enough to pay some attention to.

The Finest Illam Nepal Tea Review IndigoBloom Marigold Hotel…now there’s a movie title!

So I thought that with my new love of Darjeeling and this being from the region right next to Darjeeling, that maybe this one would fall in under that love umbrella.
It isn’t terrible. but I can tell that there are some things in here I am missing. I mean, it’s certainly a Darjeeling hybrid of sorts. I can taste the influence of both regions… except the Illam part is sort of blank for me.
I made it all the way to four steeps and the first was definitely best. The last one required some honey for me to get through it and even then it was barely saved.
Maybe some milk will help. I’m curious though, what other people think of this one. I’m positive there are notes that I just cannot taste.
Anyone up for a sample?