Teabox

I brewed this per recommendation now (3-4 minutes instead of 2, as I did previously), and the slight prefumy aroma has become very dominant. If you like perfumy teas, you will like this tea. I don’t, so I’m not recommending it and I’ve adjusted the score accordingly.

This was part of my giant sample order from teabox. The leaves are olive green, and are large, although there is a largish amount of twigs included. It’s slightly astringent, and floralish – not overly so, but there are floral hints in the tea. It’s sweet, and light bodied. A nice tea, and an interesting Darjeeling.

An unusual darjeeling, this is stronger than a normal darj, and has a nutty flavour. There is some astringency, but very little, and the tea is naturally sweet. It rebrews well, with one 3 gram serving good for three-four cups of tea. The tea’s grade is SFTGOP1 but there was a good amount of twigs, and no whole leaves in the bunch. The dry leaves range between olive green, through golden brown, to chocolate brown, and the smell is a wonderful combination of hazelnuts and sugar.

Oooooh. This is a wonderful tea. The smell of the golden tippy dry leaf was biscuit-y and malty…and the liquid was dark red with the same fragrance, but now it was warm malty biscuits! I’m learning that I adore second flush assams as long as they are not too astringent, and this tea is one I could love. The malt and sweet biscuit give this Halmari a nice round mouthfeel and a beautiful smooth flavor profile. A solid citizen among Assams. It because even more wonderful with milk and sugar. Seriously, a tea that can make you forget about eating breakfast is an amazing mouthful of tea. I’m going back for seconds.

When I stuck my nose into the sample packet of this tea I was very please with the aroma that met my senses…. the leaf of this tea has a gorgeous malty smell that has a deeper aroma than the average malty smell…like malt growing in shaded forest….ooooooooh! In the cup, the smell a bit brighter than dry. Dejoo Second Flush is a medium-light bodied tea with a wonderful malty flavor with a slight roasted nut and a touch of a caramel finish. It’s a bit reminiscent of the peanuts you find in Cracker Jack. There is some astringency in the cup, but not enough to completely dry my tongue after each sip…it’s just enough to make me look forward to my next sip…. of malty goodness.

Dejoo Second Flush Assam holds a bit more than the average malty cup of assam does. If you are exploring Assams, this should be on your wish list.

On a sweltering 4th of July morning, this was the perfect tea to pull out of my samples that I purchased from Teabox. Assam Anandabag is lovely tea to see in the teaspoon…malty tippy goodness was my expectation and malty tippy goodness is exactly what I got! Anandabag isn’t a weighty assam tea, it is a middleweight assam with the lovely smell and taste of malt, cocoa and a touch of grain and a weeny bit if citrus. There was very little astringency which paired really well with the medium mouthfeel this tea created. It ended up being the perfect tea for a hot summer morning when you have that craving for a strong breakfast tea, but don’t want the heaviness that sometimes comes with Assams. Recommended.

This is not a typical English Breakfast tasting tea. The dry leaf smelled a bit sweet and biscuity/malty. Wet, the leaf produced a very malty fragrance with a touch of sweetness. But now that I’m drinking it, I’m not only getting sweet maltiness, but I’m also getting a cannabis note from the tea. Anyone that’s ever gone to a concert knows what that smells like. It was a surprising note for me in an English Breakfast tea. Perhaps it has something to do with this is probably the freshest tea I’ve ever had….it’s a 2014. There is a bit more than “a little” astringency to this tea as well, as my tongue felt dry after each sip. The maltiness and cannibisness (ha!) lead to a nicely balanced medium mouthfeel breakfast tea. I would not turn this away at a breakfast table, but with the cannabis note, perhaps for me it is better relegated to an aprés concert cuppa.

Teabox offers 15 different types of assam…. 15. and I just got samples of all of them. (Hey, free shipping! Gets me every time!) Assams are my first true love (via British/Irish tea bagged tea) and so I return to them, adding them into my rotation of black teas that I’m exploring. But where to begin with 15 samples staring me in the face…..Aha! something I recognize!
I’ve started with this tea because I have something to compare it to in Butiki’s upgrade version of this tea. The Teabox version of this tea isn’t as whole-leafed or as tippy as the upgrade version I have in my tea stash, but the leaf smells of malt and apricot like the other Hattialli assam. The liquid was a gorgeous dark red….exactly what I expect from assams. The taste? This tea has a medium mouthfeel and a slight astringency to it. It is nice and round tasting. When the tea was hot I got more of a malty flavor, but as it cooled, the apricot note came to the top…quite a lovely morph, if you ask me! I will have to revisit the premium version of this tea again after having this, but I am quite happy with this tea. All comparisons aside, it is a nice medium bodied assam that would please most palates. Hattialli Estate obviously creates some lovely assams!

Second attempt @ this tea.
Hm recommended steeptime is 10 minutes@85-90C
First try i used a sado red clay teapot, result was bloody awesome! this time around i used a glaspot and the result is somewhat paler. Somewhat spicy with more than a hint of astringancy mixed with an almost green floral note with hints of burnt butter.

Still this tea sure packs a punch for a white tea, although the taste is more like a first flush darjeeling oolong. Got enough for another try!

Happy teatime!

Cup of morning assam.
This assam is less malty less body with more sweetness to it. Since i prefer powerful assams this was not what i would consider a breakfast tea. However it has a very pleasant taste.
A hint of spices, perhaps some citrus with a very slight astingancy.

Ah, early morning cup of assam!
It has become somewhat of a habit drinking assam in the morning, especially after i drank the last of the New Vithankande. Will have to restock!

Anyways this tea is woody with some malt and a sweet honeylike finish. It does have a small bite of astringancy. All in all a good cup.

Finally made my first order of 2014 tea. First out was the springteas of yunnan from none other than yunnan sourcing. Will be interesting to try some new varietals and restock the favorites.

Ah a nice cup of tea in the evening. Ah been to active this past week, hardly any time to just stop and relax. Today at last i have some time for myself :)
I decided to try one of the samples from teabox. The choice fell on an autumn blend.

Brewed in mumyoi pot.

Surprisingly sweet brew! hints of honey mixed with a very low astringancy for autumnflush darjeeling. The classic darjeeling flavour is present although not as prominent. Superb blend!

Im almost sure to grab a pouch of this. :)

This is a rather good darjeeling blend. Typical autumn flush flavour, clean and well balanced astrinancy. Considering the pricing of this tea its a darn steal :)
Would do nicely to use as a base for blends like earl grey perhaps?

Yea gods this tea is good! I swear that if you’d told me that this is a Darj I would have laughed.
It’s a 2nd flush (my favorite!) Darjeeling, and being only FOP, you’d think that it wouldn’t be great, but it is!
Imagine the best of Assam joined with the best of Darjeeling, and this will be it. And no, this is not a blend. There is something of the etherealness and light body of the Darj, coupled with the bassiness and nutty, earthy sweetness of Assam in this tea.
The only minus to be found is that it is astringent, and it’s not shy about it. I used a bit of sugar (less than a spoon) to tone it down, otherwise it would have been unpleasant. As it was, it was just a faint puckering of the mouth after every sip.
A unique tea experience, and something that I will buy more of.

Part of the Teabox all the Darjeelings sample.
This is a white tea, so if you don’t enjoy white teas, move along, move along home (I wonder who will get the reference…).
If you, like me, enjoy white teas, then this tea is definitely not for you. You will be disappointed.
The leaves of this tea are very light olive green, with a lot of white interspersed. They look impressive – large, whole leaves, that look to have been meticulously picked.
Teabox recommends that you brew this at 85-90C. I tried it at 70C at first (standard white tea setting, because I wasn’t paying attention to the package), and brewed it for about 7 minutes, because it looked like the tea needed more time in the water. I have a feeling that I could have left it there for an hour at that temperature and I’d still would have gotten the same result: very lightly tinted warm water. No taste worth mentioning. Fail.
Next try was as Teabox directed – 90C, for 5 minutes. I got some flavor!!! I wish that I hadn’t!!!!
Take a cucumber. Squeeze out all of its juice into a glass. Fill the glass with water – and there you have it. This is what this tea tastes like. Very diluted cucumber juice.
Now I love white tea, and I love cucumber-y white tea, but this is the first time ever that I’ve tasted a white tea that actually tasted like thinned out cucumber juice, and didn’t just have subtle hints of cucumber. It wasn’t pleasant, and to the sink went the cup.
I hate giving up on a tea without giving it a fair chance, so I chucked it into my Takaya pitcher, and stuck it in the fridge overnight, to cold brew. After tasting it in the morning I was not impressed. Added some lemon and mint leaves, and left it to settle for a while longer in the fridge. If it’s not good by tomorrow, then I’m chucking it out and writing this tea off as a failure. For now, I DO NOT RECOMMEND!

I’ve already written about Teabox’s wonderful customer service. Well the box of tea samples arrived today and it is AMAZING!!!!! I’ve never seen anything like it.
You get dozens and dozens and dozens of beautiful tiny black tea pouches, each with zip lock closure, each with an individual label with everything you need to know about the tea, as well as steeping instructions. What more do you need?
The samples that I got (in the “all the Darjeelings” sample pack) included mostly black teas, but also several white teas, green teas and oolongs. There were also three free samples with the pack – two Assams and a Nilgiri.
Each sample is 10g, which is enough for 2-3 servings (at least), and a very generous amount indeed. If you have a tea loving friend nearby, you could easily buy a sample pack, and split it between you.
Now off to the review:
Dry leaves are dark, large sized (for a black tea. They are medium sized compared to oolongs), with an occasional greenish silver leaf or a golden brown tip tucked between them. They, strangely enough, smell of raw dark chocolate.
Followed the brewing recommendations: boiling water, 1 tsp of tea for a 200 ml cup (using a Finum brew basket), infused for 3 minutes.
The liquor is a clear light golden red, between the color of amber and of maple leaves in the fall. It smells fruity.
The tea is medium bodied, with a medium-low caffeine content,with no astringency. It won’t take milk well, like all the Darjeelings that I’ve encountered. It is a tad bitter when brewed without sweeteners, but not to a point of being undrinkable. Just a little kick at the edge of each sip. If that’s not your “cup of tea,” a bit of sugar removes the bitterness and enhances the fruity tastes of this tea.
This is a fruity tea (stone fruit, raisins), and has a bit of the famous “muscatel” flavor, that adds spiciness and depth to the cup.
A great introduction to Darjeeling tea for people venturing into it for the first time, particularly if they’ve only experienced Chinese teas before.
A tasty brew to “share with friends”, as teabox recommends.

Today i decided to do a comparisonbrewing between red clay and glas on this rather bold autumnflush.
Its my first chinavarietal and it dows indeed remind me of the most basic of english black teas. As the other tastingnotes says its a tea that i could full well expect in a breakfast blend of very high quality.

ok, for the comparison.
On one side i used the sado red clay mumyoi pot and the other was a standard glaspot.
For water i used tap water heated in a Kunzan tetsubin.

I used the same leaf/water ratio, both 5 minutes with a temperature of slightly over 90C

first differance i notice is the body, the glaspot taste is thinner and noticable more watery. Whereas the clay is “thicker” and less watery. The aftertaste seems to linger more in the glaspot while the claypot seems to give more sweetness.
It is hard to decide which is better, however i personaly prefer a strong body with black tea.
The tea itself taste very different when brewed at 90 instead of boiling. The heavy astringancy is gone. Hm i think i will upp the temperature in the future.
China varietals may be simpler and cheaper but are well worth exploring, there will definetly be a china first flush in my collection come spring.

Next comparison will be for assam tea.

Mumyoi Kyusu

This chinavarietal autumnflush from jungpana sure packs a punch. It is VERY bold yes it never turns bitter although it finishes with a strong astringancy.
The viscosity is almost milky and the tea gives a warm feeling.
Clean taste filled with flavour. Very well balanced and one of the best AF i´ve tried.
However the slightly more sweet and flowery clonal from jungpana tops this by just a bit.

Restocked this as it is nice with breakfast.

Malty and strong with a bite. :)

Mumyoi-yaki Kyusu water from kunzan tetsubin

This is one of the better assams ive tried, VERY strong body. Brisk clean astringancy, some malt and sweetness. Will have to try this at a lower temperature as well.
Doing a resteep now! haha assam in the morning is wonderful!

Mumyoi-Yaki kyusu

Rather unremarkable assam. Not as sweet and malty as other varieties.
The taste is more like a lowland ceylon, sharper. However i brewed it hotter then recommended. A lower temperature might bring out more sweetness.
If given a chance i will try it out again.
I love weekends, lots of time to sip tea :)

Brewed in a Mumyoi-yaki kyusu (oxidationburned mumyoiclay by Shimizu Ken)

First i want to give my thanks to Shimizu Ken for making this wonderful pot. The clay is so compact and “heavy” the surface has been made supersmooth. Retains heat very well! And most important brewes a superb pot of Daarjeeling. The taste compared to the glaspot is astounding.

The tea itself has some qualities of a heavy firstflush like Singbuli clonals, mixed with i dont know what some tangy herbs? :) The flavour is very distinct and quite pleasing, like sweetly bitter. I might order some more of this!

3.5g / 200ml glaspot
5m @ 85C

Comforting, lychee, full bodied and slightly tangy.
Very nice! Loads better then Arya topaz. the only other darjeeling oolong i´ve tried.