217 Tasting Notes
Finally, two years later in my tea journey, I’ve returned to this tea. Brewed at 200˚F, but I think 195 or 205 would’ve worked too.
I had to venture out into the world of Indian teas and British high teas to appreciate this tea: like a CTC, this NEEDS to be drunk with milk and sugar. It is robust enough to hold up to these additions, and then it becomes a lovely companion to any high tea of sandwiches and pastries. I will finally be finishing this tea and enjoying it!
Will probably purchase more Assam teas in future to fill this role, but some of my guests really love the smokiness of this tea so I’m glad I have it.
Preparation
Sipdown! Though I brewed this at the correct temperature of 195˚F, it was slightly bitter (perhaps due to the tea dust at the bottom of the bag). Still smelled divine though. I added milk to this tea for the first time and it was great, sweetness restored. No need for sugar. Perfect for a “high tea” tea when you don’t want to drink this tea as a purist.
I already bought the Imperial Grade of this tea (2017) from Yunnan Sourcing so am interested to compare them tomorrow.
I love the ginger almond fragrance. The tea tastes quite bitter using my steeping parameters, so it needs milk and sugar. Lovely breakfast drink.
Brewed at 194˚F for 5:00.
Rating: 76
Flavors: Almond, Ginger
Preparation
Smells divine, malted candy with that funky earthy smell similar to a Yunnan black tea, but with even more complex floral notes.
Unfortunately the flavour of the tea is slightly bitter and astringent. It tastes floral in the sense of chewing on a flower, not sweet but instead getting the bitter juices of the plant that is not meant to be eaten.
Brewed at 176˚F for 4:00.
Rating: 66
Flavors: Caramel, Floral, Malt, Wet Earth
Preparation
This is my first ever Nilgiri tea.
The dry leaf smells like Chinese green tea, sweet and vegetal. Tea liquor smells more like white tea, fruity and slightly floral, with steamed corn (as it says on Teabox’s website). It tastes fresh and sweet, no bitterness, a lot like sweet corn, maybe corn soup?
This tea is very good, and I am a huge fan of corn, but I am being very selective about how much green and white tea I buy every year now so I doubt I’ll buy the full size of this.
Brewed at 177˚F for just under 5:00.
Rating: 83
Flavors: Floral, Vegetal
Delicious, rich, spicy aroma of ginger, stone fruits, woods, and cloves.
The taste is a bit dry and astringent even though I steeped at the minimum temperature (185˚F) for about 15 sec under 4:00. Tastes better with honey but I can still taste a slight astringency. Lovely aroma but I will not be purchasing more of this tea.
Flavors: Cardamon, Ginger, Plums, Raisins, Stonefruits, Wood
Preparation
Sadly, I am reviewing the 2016 harvest of this tea in 2018. I am so bad at finishing fresh teas (green and white) in a timely fashion…
Despite being 2 years old, this is still an excellent tea. It has a delicious nutty, malted sugar, almost roasted cereal or oats aroma. Nutty, roasted vegetable, toasted bread flavour.
Flavors: Brown Toast, Malt, Nutty, Oats
Preparation
Okay, I’m trying this again by correcting the brewing parameters I tried last time.
Brewed at 194˚F for 4:00 in about 7oz of water. At 4:00 the astringency is a little improved, though there is still a lot of dryness on my tongue. At this point I’m wondering if it’s something genetic that’s wrong with me, so I’d still advise you to sample this tea if you’re interested. For me, I’ll stick to my Chinese oolongs and Taiwanese 18.
Rating: 62
Flavors: Astringent, Malt, Wood
