Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
A premium Assam tea blend from the peak second flush tea growing season in Assam. Selective sourced by our master blenders from premium Assam plantations, this extremely robust and bold black tea is characteristic of a bright liquor, a typical coppery infusion and a smooth maltiness. The dark black leaves leaves are a visual delight with an abundance of golden tips.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a signature blend second flush Assam from Golden Tips Tea, picked in August 2013. The dry leaf smells sweet and malty with an undertone of spice, and the leaves themselves are fairly thin and wiry, mostly black but with some lighter, golden tipped leaves scattered throughout. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a bright reddish-brown, and I added a splash of milk.
Assam is one of my absolute favourite black tea varieties. It’s one of the first I tried when I was younger, and it’s probably fair to say that my enjoyment of it encouraged my interest in tea generally. It’s always with pleasure that I try a new Assam, and this one is no exception.
What I’m tasting here is fairly typical of the variety, I think. There’s an initial sweetness that becomes intensely malty in the mid-sip, and a hint of woodiness in the aftertaste. There are very mild cocoa notes, but they’re fleeting and by no means a prominent part of the overall flavour. It’s a full bodied tea, with a thickly textured mouthfeel, very smooth and almost creamy. The malt becomes more dominant with successive sips, which only increases this effect.
While this is a fairly straightforward and ordinary Assam, I am enjoying this as my morning cup. It’s deliciously malty and sweet, with enough body to be somehow intensely satisfying. It’s not the most unique or even the most flavourful of black teas, but it’s certainly a solid example of a decent Assam. It’s well worth a try if you’re just beginning to explore black tea, or Assam in particular, or if you’re just looking for a reliable everyday tea. Classic stuff.
