The Simple Leaf

Brews to a medium amber color. Smells like bread and honey. Tastes mild and malty with a little something like cooked collard greens and a little honey sweetness. A hint of bitterness. Moderate astringency.

Rich cocoa aroma and taste. It is not a one note tea, but the cocoa impression is so strong that I’m having trouble sussing out the nuances. A little charcoal, maybe a little cherry. Very smooth with only a hint of astringency and no bitterness. Coppery orange in the cup.

Brews up a medium orange color. Aroma of fresh biscuits. Robust mouth feel is almost chewy. Solid malty taste with a fruity sweet finish like grapes. Moderate astringency that is not overpowering.

I know Shanti is a love it or hate it tea, and I love it. The smokiness really shines through, with a slight hint of vegetal flavor. If you don’t like smoky teas, you won’t like this.

I just finished up the last of this. This chocolatey goodness is sure to become a staple in my cupboard! It’s a perfect day for it too, all rainy and dreary, which as far as I’m concerned is wonderful!

This is about my 4th cup of tea today. I woke up early since my dog wouldn’t be quiet, and have been guzzling this ever since. I’m almost out.

It’s a rather cold and dreary day, so I’m warming up with some Dawn. Ahhh, so good.

So great. My favorite.

See my other tasting notes for (much) more details.

The discussion topic about milk tea inspired me to try this a second time, this time with a bit of milk and the smallest amount of sugar I could grab with my two fingers.

It is still wonderful, but now completely different from when I drank it straight. I don’t know how the The Simple Leaf hasn’t made millions just from this tea.

The sugar really brings out the subtle sweetness. Now instead of tasting a hint of cocoa, I really taste lots of caramel and a dash of…is it honey? Something floral? The milk really finishes things off with an extra-smooth, creamy texture. My, oh my!

Once again, you need to try this tea. Yes, I’m talking to YOU!

Oh wow.
Oh man.

Okay. So.

Wow.

I’ve found a new favorite tea. Dawn is a wonderful, full-bodied black tea. The dry leaves smell like cocoa, and when steeped, there is a hint of cocoa in the taste.

For such a simple tea, I’m having a hard time describing it.

The texture is so smooth and creamy. It is so simple and delicious. I highly recommend this to everyone, especially black tea lovers.

Wow.

I tried this tea when it was infused with dried orange peel, spearmint, and fennel seeds. It was amazing, it was very light and extreamly smooth, almost a silky texture. The infusions were very well balanced making it extremely enjoyable.

All right, I admit there’s more to this tea than I noticed before. When I open the pack of leaves and really pay attention to the smell, the built-up aroma is pretty intriguing. This isn’t just straight up Assam. It’s got a hint of the briskness present in a nice Ceylon, for example. I’m still trying to figure out the other aspects of it, as well as the best brewing technique.

I tried ~4 minutes at near boiling with ~2 tsp leaves in ~12 oz of water. Initially, it felt a little weak, but as I was finishing the mug it felt a little astringent. My intuition tells me to try a 3 min steep with a little bit more leaves next time. I’m a bit hesitant to try a 5 minute steep like The Simple Leaf recommends, but I might give it a go if the 3 minute try doesn’t work out. If anyone else has any other ideas on how to bring out the most in this one, let me know.

I keep having this tea, thinking “OK. This time I’m going to figure out something insightful to say about it”. But it just isn’t happening. Sure, it’s very smooth, a bit malty, produces a somewhat thick liquor, has a full flavor but hardly any harshness, and is overall an excellent tea. But it doesn’t really stand out in any particular way to me, besides being outstanding. It has pretty much everything I want in a black tea, and very little of the things I don’t (harshness, astringency).

I feel The Simple Leaf’s Mountain Malt is very similar but slightly superior to this tea, but both are exemplary Assams.

It was one of those days. Clumsy like a very hot place. At mid-afternoon I was thinking if we couldn’t just skip the rest of today and go straight on with tomorrow. I needed a cup of tea really badly and actually had one planned until I came home and face to face with the to-be-finished pile. Right then. My conscience bid me to look through that first, and as I did I discovered a tea from Bethany that I had completely forgotten I had! First win of the day. No, really. First win.

I actually needed a cup so badly that I just brewed it up and quite forgot to even look at the leaves. I didn’t even think to look up what sort of tea it was. Let’s just say that I was lucky it wasn’t a fragile green…

After having steeped it though, I looked it up and read the description. The colour was golden as promised and the aroma was floral and somewhat wood-y also as promised. There were some talk about notes of tropical fruit too, but I couldn’t find any of that.

The flavour had the same sort of wood-y, almost rooibos-y note. What is it with me finding rooibos-y notes in indian teas lately? First that decaf indian vanilla thing from Numi the other day (the one with the Cup of DOOM!) and now this? Again, nothing on the tropical fruit front, though.

I’m not a fan of the wooden rooibos note, especially considering that there isn’t any rooibos in it at all. I like oolongs but I swing towards the greener chinese ones, generally. I have yet to meet an indian oolong that I fell for. This one is from Darjeeling and even though a lot of black Darjeeling teas are technically borderline oolong, an actual oolong from the area just tastes kind of unfinished. I’ve had a Darjeeling oolong before, but that was years ago and I honestly can’t remember anything about it, so I can’t tell if this is characteristic or not.

Having another cup of this late at night, and it is excellent as always. Prepared with sweetened condensed milk, this is giving me a Fruit Stripe gum vibe on top of the usual cocoa and chicory notes. Not what I expected, but I’ll take it. In the months since first trying it, I still have not had any other tea like Dawn. It is truly an accomplishment.

I’ve updated my first log of this with a couple more details, but I just had to post another note.

For some reason, this tea makes me crave it late at night. It’s so smooth, light, and calm. There’s just no bitterness at all. I’m now noticing a hint of starfruit there, in addition to the highly cocoa-centric flavor.

I’m not sure if this applies to other tea drinkers, but it seems to me that different teas give slightly different highs – Chinese green teas often make me feel thin and twitchy and mentally hyperactive, Assams are more physically energizing. Dawn is sort of like a runner’s high. If I’m not already too full of vigor, I can sleep after having it even though it has caffeine. The milk I use might be affecting this too; milk seems to soften all aspects of a tea, including the stimulant effect. I use about half of what I would use for a more robust black. It looks a bit light in color after the milk is added but the flavor is very nice.

Dawn is also still good even if oversteeped. It’s the first black tea that I’ve actually considered steeping twice; often, the smell of used black tea leaves is somewhat repulsive to me, but Dawn’s large leaves still smell and look nice.

The other thing I had to say is that this is now my girlfriend’s favorite tea. She also likes it blended with Keemun.

I’m going to have to bump up my rating again.

It is amazing to me how many different non-tea flavors and aromas you can find in tea. Bananas, orange creamsicles, gummy bears, artichokes… and now Dawn, which brings chocolate like no other. The dry leaves smell very nice, cocoa is the main thing that hits me but there’s more too – something that I can’t quite place vaguely reminds me of my trip to Japan. My girlfriend thinks there’s a bit of seaweedy smell, which might be it. Don’t let that put you off, though, the leaves smell very nice. The leaves are very long and full, something you rarely see in a black tea. Tiny steepers won’t work here!

I made it with a bit of milk, because I love milk tea so much. The actual brew was an olfactory and gustatory illusion – while sipping, it’s chocolate. Exhale, and it’s a lightish but smooth black tea, without the spice or vegetality you’ll find in most Darjeelings and Nilgiris. In my eyes, this is a very good thing. There is also a little of the woodiness or smokiness that is often quite strong in Chinese teas. It even took the the milk gracefully. In the end, it’s maybe the first light black tea that I can say I really like, without a “but”. Dawn is really a rare achievement – it’s not just a great tea, it’s great and unique.

As a final note… The Simple Leaf’s marketing on this tea is facepunchingly incredible. I dare you to look at those tea fields and those happy Indian dudes and read about sustainability and not buy some.

Thanks, Steepster, for pointing me towards this tea :D

I think my stash of this might be … altering itself. I hope it’s not brought upon by the semi-transparent bag it came in. It is starting to have a sort of brussels sprout / dishwater thing going on in the dry leaves and the freshly-brewed tea. Using less leaves seems to help somewhat, but what is really interesting is that this mostly unpleasant flavor almost disappears when the tea cools down a bit – to 120 degrees or so. Judging from my recent experience, this reduction of unpleasant flavors during cooling might be something that happens to many Assams.

The other flavor that has emerged after my initial tastings is carrot, but it only starts coming out if steeped for around 4 minutes.

I am trying to learn more ways to control these aspects, because I prefer the pure smoothness and richness of the tea when I first had it. It’s still enjoyable, but not something I’d rave about again unless I can figure this out.

Mountain Malt is good enough that I’m considering ordering more already, just in case of meteor strikes. It’s pretty much my favorite tea ever. Truly malty, very rich, perfectly smooth – exactly what I need when I get home. I’m even getting some cookie aromas coming out now. I’ve raised my rating every time I have logged this, but I think it’s finally settled into the right spot at 97.

I recommend a steep time of 3:30-3:45, as I think 3 minutes flat doesn’t quite bring out all this tea has to offer. There is still no bitterness or astringency at this point. Three minutes might be enough if you’re going to drink it without milk. Milk really does bring out the best in this tea, though, so at least give it a try.

Had this with breakfast yesterday. This is an undeniably happy tea with simply no shortcomings. After re-sampling what was previously my highest-rated tea I’m going to boost Mountain Malt’s rating even higher. I gave most of my specific thoughts in my first review so there’s little point in repeating them.

Now, I made this at 10:30 am or so. It was probably partially due to the high-fat breakfast I had (thick-sliced bacon, a fried egg, and an Asian pear – delicious), or the raw cocoa bar that I finished later that day… but I was absolutely full of unwavering energy till 4 or 5 am that night. What a kick this tea has.