India Bihar Doke 'Black Fusion' Hand-Made Black Tea

Holy extended absence, Batman! I’ve been having a bit of “fun” transitioning from college back to work. I went through job application hell only to end up back at my old job. It’s frustrating to go to school, buy into all those promises of working hard and getting “The Job”, only to graduate into a Mad Maxian job market. Oddly I’m finding my old job a lot more enjoyable now than I did before though, so… win?

Anyway this tea. I think it might be a bit touchy, first time I overleafed it and it was ridiculously bitter, but I added some honey (and milk, which I never do) and it was drinkable but not noteworthy. Second time I did better, I put 2 tsp in my 15 oz Bee House teapot, let it steep for a minute and a half. The resulting tea still had a trailing bitterness, but in a pleasant way. Definitely get the molasses and raisins as described by What-cha. The aftertaste is mostly raisins to me, though there is an elusive “something else” that I can’t quite pin down.

EDIT: I sniffed the wet leaves and holy does it ever smell like grape juice!

Dark malt and moderate bitterness up front, with notes of raisins, black grapes, and dried apricots arriving in the aftertaste. This is a fairly enjoyable tea, though it requires care to avoid oversteeping.

This is a wonderful black tea. The notes from the vendor are right on target: grape, molasses and malt. Pleasurably brisk and rich at the same time. Definitely on my wish list since all I bought was a sample.

Second tea I’m trying from the What-Cha shipment, from the February 2015 harvest. Brewed Western-style, but kind of curious what would happen if I tried it gongfu style.

It’s excellent — complex, molasses notes, grape, raisins, a little malty. I wish I had a little more than 50 g.

There are a lot of things I could say to start off today’s blog post, but they can wait for a later day, today’s intro is something special. It is my two year Tea Blog Anniversary! It seems pretty crazy that I have been rambling about tea on my blog for this long, and that all of you are still hanging out with me on my corner of the internet. I have met some wonderful people and of course tried some awesome teas, found many favorites, and turned into a real teaware hoarder. Thank you all for reading my rambling, it means the world to me.

Since, unless my mind deceives me, it is Wednesday, meaning the day I review a tea from What-Cha, in my probably very silly attempt to review all the teas. Looking at India Bihar Doke ‘Black Fusion’ Hand-Made Black Tea, hailing from the much talked about Doke Tea Gardens in Bihar, India, run by the Lochan family, pioneers of the tea world! Trying teas from the Doke Tea Gardens has been pretty high on my to-do list for a while, because they are much loved by fellow bloggers and tea sippers, plus I really like their mission of treating the people and the land like they are precious, bravo! Eyeballing the leaves, they are really dark and quite pretty, I am a sucker for curly dark leaves, oh who am I kidding, I am a sucker for leaves! The aroma is delectable, malty and spicy, like curry without the heat and turmeric without the earthiness, a touch of floral notes, and a very sweet finish. That finish is one of stewed raisins and plums with molasses, it is like a malty compote!

Into my steeping vessel the curly leaves go, to make their transformation to plump and not as dark leaves. The aroma of the soggy leaves is malty and molasses sweet, with a definite spice which is hard to pin down, it is like saffron, turmeric, and curry…but not, it is more like you are smelling a blend of them from a distance. It is maddeningly hard to pin down in my olfactory memory, I wish I could create a scent photo album for referencing in just such occasions. The liquid has a note that I have not smelled in what seems like forever, sumac! There are also notes of molasses, malt, spice, and a touch of raisins and peanuts.

The tea is really quite vibrant, like a sky at sunset, the kind that won’t scare away sailors, but where you know there are wildfires somewhere. The initial sip starts brisk and strong, this tea has a presence that makes you sit up and pay attention, maybe I got it wrong and this is a story sunrise color! The taste starts with notes of malt and raisins, this transitions to sassafras, that maddeningly hard to place down spice (ok, you know what, it is Spice, there, a nice Melange heavy tea for the Navigators) and a touch of sumac adding a lemony note at the very tail end of the midtaste. Then it moves to creamy stewed plums and molasses, which moves into the aftertaste and lingers. I really like how this tea has a brisk boldness to it while also having depth, a lot of times teas that wake you up are focusing more on having oomph than subtle nuances. As someone who does not really drink a lot of breakfast teas and tends to go for the subtle teas to gently shake me into wakefulness, I could see myself really craving this tea on those mornings I want the extra mouth punch while also being treated to a dance of tastes in my mouth. I can see why so many of my fellow bloggers go gaga for Doke if they are half as good as this one!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-cha-india-bihar-doke-black-fusion.html

I received my order from What-Cha today! After several reather bad days, it was really nice to have something like this to perk me up. And it’s cold and blustery out there, more like November than March, so tea is just want I wanted.

I decided to try this one first. It is the sample Alistair sent along, and he noted this is a new tea. It was harvested less than a month ago, on Feb 14 in Bihar India.

It’s malty, and rich, and bracing. This would be the sort of tea you want in the morning, to wake you up. I get a little bit of bitter at the end of the sip. I might try my next cup with a dollop of maple syrup. If you like a robust tea with lots of flavor and malt, i think you will love this one.

Edited to Add: Re-steeped. It’s even better! I also made toffee chip cookies and ate them fresh out of the oven, with the toffee soft and gooey. This tea is an absolutely perfect drink with these cookies. It’s a little smoother, still flavorful but the slight bitterness at the end of the sip is gone. Wonder if I over leafed it or over steeped it the first time? Upping my rating from 75 to 80.