Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
This organic tea comes from Usambara in northern Tanzania. Years ago lions freely roamed this region. The tea is reddish and the cup has a full and malty flavored.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! It’s been a little while since I last had a pure Tanzania black tea. It’s a tea that’s always welcome in my teacup! I love the rich, malty flavor!
The dry leaf is a very small CTC leaf. What that says to me is that I need to make a couple of adjustments to my brewing routine. First, I have a smaller leaf so there is more surface area exposed. So, I want to cut the brew time a little bit so that I don’t wind up with a bitter tasting cup! With a small cut leaf like this, I usually brew the tea for just 2 – 2 1/2 minutes. Since I brewed this in my Kati tumbler, I went with 2 1/2 minutes. If I were brewing it in my Breville tea maker, I’d go with 2 minutes.
Also with the smaller cut leaf, you have more leaf in a measuring vessel than you would with a full leaf. That is to say that 1 bamboo scoop of this tea would be more tea than 1 bamboo scoop of a whole leaf tea. So, I reduce the amount of tea that I measure into the basket of the tumbler. So instead of a bamboo scoop, I went with 3/4 bamboo scoop of leaf.
And the flavor is exactly what I was looking for this morning! It’s rich, full-flavored and loaded with the gusto I need to get myself going today! It is so malty – it would rival a favorite Assam! And the flavor is less harsh than Assam (Assam can sometimes be bitter!) This has a lovely caramel undertone that melds nicely with the malt. Notes of earth, leather, hints of molasses. As I near mid-cup, I start to pick up on some stone fruit notes. Plum. Caramelized plum!
Delightful! I love that this tea is organic. But even more than that, I love that this is a full-bodied, flavorful cup of tea that has given me the invigorating kick that I needed today!
