teepland Send Message

Went with a double steeping of this tea today—one for breakfast and one for my afternoon.

The dried leaves are very pretty: Whole, orthodox, rolled leaves with lots of gold tips.

I brewed 10 grams of tea in 20 ounces of near-boiling water for 4 minutes (first steeping) and 4 minutes, 30 seconds (second steeping). The brewed liquor came out to be a lovely red-brown hue.

As this is a black Assam tea, it had the expected malty aroma and flavor—not overpowering but good. There was also a flavor of toasted bread—not unexpected for an Assam. Very little astringency to it. Finally, with both steepings I noticed a very slight spicy flavor to it—very hard to pin down what spice, exactly, but I came to the conclusion that it was similar to nutmeg. I wasn’t expecting this at all, but it was very good!

Overall, this tea was very good. I am sad that this was only a sample so I have none left to try again later, but enjoyed this one immensely today.

I decided to stick with Simpson & Vail teas this week and went with this blend for breakfast today.

The dried leaves were very dark, almost to the point of being black. Some stems, but mostly broken and a few whole leaves. Almost no fannings. Some golden tips.

I steeped 13 grams of dried leaves in 20 ounces of boiling water for 4 minutes. I went with the larger amount of leaves because of my experience with a similar tea from S&V earlier this week (East Frisian Blend).

The tea brews into a dark brown liquor. The flavor has a bit of malt and a bit of hay together. Slightly astringent, but that could also be related to the amount of dried leaves I used when brewing (a bit more than usual).

Overall, it was good, but not one of my favorites. I expected more flavors, I think. I prefer some of the other S&V blends over this one.

I really, really want to like this tea enough to call it a favorite. I’m not there yet, though.

On paper, this has everything I generally look for in a black tea: Strong, with a malty flavor. But, it hasn’t yet broken into my list of favorites.

It doesn’t help that it took me a few tries before I found the right amount to brew for my strength preferences: 13 grams for 20 ounces of boiling water for 4 minutes. And, one steeping only—repeated steepings of the leaves does not work with this one.
The length of steeping time is different than what was recommended by the vendor but, when I tried the vendor’s recommendations, my tea seemed weak.

The dried leaves themselves are very pretty: dark to the point of almost being black, with some golden tips mixed in. There is a hint of berry to the aroma of the dried leaves.

When brewed, the liquor has a copper color, much like the vendor’s description states. The liquor has a malty flavor which is slightly astringent, but not nearly as malty as I expected. Since this is a blend, I know it won’t be as malty as a straight Assam tea—maybe a blend of Ceylon and/or Kenyan teas…? Just a guess. The hint of berries in the aroma of the dried leaves also translates into the flavor.

Overall, I like it, but it isn’t the strong breakfast tea I expected. It is one to enjoy throughout the day, and might even be very good with ice. I’ll have to try that as the hot summer weather moves in.

Last day of this tea, as this steeping is finally the sipdown. While my feelings about this tea did slightly improve since my first review of it, the tea still isn’t near to being one of my favorites and I won’t be purchasing more for my cupboard. Overall, a good enough tea for most mornings, but nothing outstanding. :/

I drank this one last night before bed. Didn’t feel like getting up to type in my notes on the desktop computer (an example of a time I really wish Steepster had a mobile version/app), so I had to wait until today. Anyway…

I had a rooibos tisane years ago that I loved and have been searching for one similar to that ever since. I have never been able to find it…until now. I loved this one!

The dried leaves were cut to the point of being fannings—just what I’d expect from a quality rooibos where you want as much leaf interaction with the water as possible when brewing.

The liquor brewed into a nice amber color. It had the familiar scent of a rooibos tisane—hard to describe, but recognizable. Besides the familiar rooibos flavor, there was an undertone of buckwheat. The flavor also had notes of plums and raisins. Overall, an excellent rooibos tisane that I will certainly add to my regular collection. It’s an excellent quality tisane which captures the essence of rooibos perfectly.

I brewed 6 grams of dried leaves in 12 ounces of boiling water for 5 minutes.

A sample from the Black Tea Sampler I purchased from Vahdam Teas. I’ve been drinking a lot of these samples lately, many of which are so similar to each other (single-estate Darjeelings) that I was having a hard time remembering which was which. I decided to go with something that I thought would be different enough from the other samples to be memorable.

Looking at the dried leaves, I found that they were mostly orthodox, whole leaves. There were quite a few gold tips in the sample—more than I expected from a breakfast blend.

I steeped 6 grams of tea in 12 ounces of near-boiling water for 4 minutes.

The liquor came out bronze or dark amber—very similar to the color of brandy. Very pretty.

The liquor didn’t have much of an aroma to it. What aromas it did have, though, were not anything specific—just like a generic black tea would normally have.

Tasting the tea, I found it had the wet rock taste I would expect from a second flush darjeeling—not the muscatel flavor of a second flush, but the wet rock flavor was there. This was confusing to me since, according to the package, this was picked in November. There was a very slight astringency to it, but not much. Other than that, I didn’t find any other outstanding flavors; I saw that other reviewers noted a malty flavor to it but I did not find that.

Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great—it was good. It wasn’t what I expected at all from a breakfast blend—much lighter than how that type of tea blend usually comes. I expect a breakfast blend to hit me on the taste buds with a hammer and a shout and a caffeine rush arriving like a bullet train. This one was far too delicate for that kind of action—it was more of brushing the taste buds and squeaking out, “umm, hello?” And, rather than the bullet train of caffeine it was more like the speed of the Chicago Metra—slow moving, but eventually getting there.

NOTE: The sample I used was marked with a date of picking of November, 2016

A sample of 10 grams included in the Black Tea Sampler I purchased from Vahdam. I decided to go crazy tonight and brew the whole sample at once. Yeah, sometimes I live life on the wild side here.

I steeped the tea using 10 grams in 20 ounces of water. I brewed it for 3 minutes, 30 seconds using nearly boiling water.

Prior to brewing the tea, the dried leaves were all whole, orthodox leaves. They were vibrant colors of gold, silver, green, and dark brown. I didn’t see any stems in my initial glance.

The tea brewed into a liquor the color of honey. Based on the picture from the website (same picture used here on Steepster), I was expecting something much lighter, but this was a nice amber color. The liquor had a floral scent to it—very similar to other first flushes I’ve had.

The first flavor I noticed, though, was a woody flavor, along with wet hay. That sounds worse than it actually was, since this combination was very pleasant. After a few sips and swirls in my mouth, I also picked up a very slight taste of oatmeal in the tea. The floral aroma translated into a floral aftertaste, but it was not a flavor present with the tea itself.

I enjoyed this tea tremendously. I wish I hadn’t used my whole sample tonight, but it was a great tea to have this evening after I finished mowing the lawn and was relaxing for the evening. I will look into buying more of this, but I don’t know how long of a shelf life this would have—it would have to be ordered in small amounts, I think, in order to truly appreciate the flavor.

NOTE: The package I used had a date of picking of 8 April 2017.

Had this again this morning for the sipdown of this sample. The bold sweet potato flavor is still pronounced. It’s good, but not something I could have regularly, I think.

Okay—the more I drink this, the more I like it. Even as I have been trying single-estate second flushes from other estates, this tea is the one I keep coming back to when I am in the mood for a second flush Darjeeling. It helps that I have been experimenting with the quantity of tea leaf used per water volume and I am at the amount which matches my taste.

While my original rating wasn’t low, I am still raising the number since this truly has become one of my favorites.

I was surprised when I opened the sealed pack for this tea because the dried leaves were much greener than I expected! For a black tea (even a first flush), I was expecting darker leaves. But these leaves are definitely a bright green—no hint of darkness to them at all!

I steeped the tea using 4 grams of dried leaves in 12 ounces of near boiling water for 4 minutes.

The tea brewed into a very bright, pleasant liquor—very similar to a Helles beer or even a chamomile tisane. The first aromas I discovered coming from the liquor reminded me much more of a green or oolong tea instead of a black tea. It was a vegetal aroma, with a slight floral and muscatel scent. Very pleasant.

The vegetal aroma of the tea didn’t translate into the flavor, though. The primary flavors I discovered were nutty, muscatel, citrus, and apricot. It also had a very slight buttery aftertaste—maybe an extension of the nutty flavor…? A slight tang to it which reminded me of an oolong, but not as defined.

Overall, this was a tea of excellent quality and flavor—one that I will enjoy having again. Given the low caffeine, it will make a good evening tea for the warm summer months ahead.

NOTE: The package I used had a date of picking noted as 17 March 2017.