Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Oollo Tea
Tea Description:
Alishan Mountain is known for its amazing mountain oolong teas however it also produces small limited batches of black teas. This particular 2014 harvest brews a prominent cacao chocolate flavour with wooden musky aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ohhh … lovely! This Limited Edition AliShan High Mountain Black Tea from Oollo Tea is absolutely wonderful – just exactly the tea that I needed this afternoon!
This isn’t as robust a black tea as an Assam or even a Ceylon might be. Instead, imagine an AliShan Oolong meets a top-quality Fujian black tea. That’s what this tastes like to me – like the love child of a marriage between an AliShan Oolong and a Fujian Black.
I get those sweet notes of cacao that I’d taste in a Fujian Black but I get the soft, almost creamy body of an AliShan Oolong. It’s rich and full-flavored but not as robust and aggressive as a typical black tea.
And it’s smooth! Oh so smooth. I am getting very little astringency and no bitterness. I taste notes of a woodsy flavor and the aforementioned cacao. Hints of sweet, buttery caramel. Notes of flower and peach.
A truly remarkable tea. This is the kind of black tea that I’d recommend for afternoon tea drinking – it isn’t as robust as I would want from a breakfast tea. But don’t let that dissuade you from trying this tea – because you really should try this tea. It’s so good!
Boisahabi Estate Assam SFTGFOP1 Black Tea from Capital Teas Limited
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Limited
Tea Description:
Potently aromatic attractive deep brown Assam leaves with plenty of golden tips. These leaves infuse to a very rich, strong and sweetly malty tasting tea liquor with an unusually smooth disposition for a tea with such strength. Highly recommended as a breakfast tea to drink with milk!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Boisahabi Estate Assam SFTGFOP1 Black Tea from Capital Teas Limited is a really enjoyable Assam – it’s got a rich, thick texture and lots of malt!
It has that strong, robust character that you look for in a morning cuppa – this is one of those ‘get you going in the morning’ type of teas! What I’m appreciating most about this is that while it is a bold tasting tea, it’s not overly ‘edgy.’ It’s got a smooth, nicely rounded flavor with sweet, caramel-y undertones. Quite nice!
To brew this, I put a bamboo scoop of tea into the basket of my Kati Tumbler and added 12 ounces of boiling water. I steeped the tea for 2 1/2 minutes. I would caution you to watch your steep time because this tea can and will get bitter on you if you oversteep it – so don’t do that!
If you like your breakfast tea to be latte, this tea will take the addition of milk and honey quite nicely. It’s also really pleasant served straight up. I like it hot best, but it’s still really tasty as it cools.
Marco Polo Blend from Capital Teas Limited
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Limited
Tea Description:
Quality Ceylon black tea infused with a natural fruit and caramel flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! It’s pretty much a given that a tea will have me at the word “caramel” and this Marco Polo Blend from Capital Teas Limited did. This is rich and sweet and delicious.
The black tea base is a Ceylon. Most Ceylon teas are medium bodied, and I’d probably categorize this as a medium-to-full bodied tea too. It’s not quite as hefty or thick as an Assam would be, but it’s not what I’d call a thin textured tea either. It’s pleasantly flavored, nicely round and it’s got some gusto. It’s smooth until the finish where I notice a slight dryness of astringency. It’s not a harsh astringency and the tea itself is not bitter.
It’s not an aggressive tea and for the subtly of the flavoring, an aggressive tea is not needed here. The fruit and caramel flavor is more of what I’d call a ‘delicate’ level of flavoring. It’s not in your face. There’s a gentle note of caramel and an even gentler note of fruit.
It’s gentle, but it’s effective! I like the subtle approach here. It’s a soft, creamy note of caramel that seems to glide over the palate. The fruit notes add just a whisper of sweetness and a little dimension to the cup without offering a distinct fruit flavor. I can’t tell you exactly what fruit I’m tasting. It’s just a hint of fruitiness.
A very enjoyable cuppa! I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it.
Meleng Estate Assam FTGFOP1 Black Tea from Capital Tea Limited
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Limited
Tea Description:
Beautifully well make chunky brown leaves full of deep golden tips from one of Assam’s best tea estates. These leaves produce an incredibly well rounded and sweet tasting medium-bodied tea liquor with complex malty flavour notes and with stone fruit-like overtones.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I received a sampling of this tea from a friend on Steepster, and I’m really glad she included it with the different samples she sent me! This is lovely!
Really nice! I’ve had several really good Assam teas over the last couple of months, and this is yet another. This has a really wonderful malty tone to it – rich and flavorful – with fruity notes and a very smooth delivery from start to finish with a mild astringency.
To brew this, I grabbed my Kati tumbler and emptied the sample into the basket (it was just enough for 12 ounces of tea!) and then I heated 12 ounces of water to 205°F. I poured the hot water into the tumbler and let the tea steep for 2 1/2 minutes.
And the flavor is very much what I’d expect from a high quality Assam tea. It’s rich and flavorful with a medium to full body. It’s sweet with notes of caramel. There are lovely stone fruit notes that are reminiscent of a fresh, ripe plum. As I continue to sip, I also pick up on notes of the sugary sweetness you’d taste from a raisin.
There is a mild astringency as I already mentioned, and there is just a hint of bitterness that hits my palate at mid-sip, suggesting to me that if I had brewed this longer or at a higher temperature, the tea might prove to be too bitter to drink.
As it is though, it’s quite pleasant. That hint of bitterness does a pretty good job of hiding behind the sweeter notes of this tea. If you’re looking for a tasty everyday Assam, you might want to try this one. It’s one I wouldn’t mind reaching for every morning!
Etambagahawila Estate Ceylon OP1 Black Tea from Capital Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Tea Limited
Tea Description:
Well made beautiful even and neat black wiry leaves with good sheen from Sri Lanka’s Galle region. These aromatic leaves produce a medium to strong tasting tea liquor with ample body and prominent sweet flavour and aroma notes reminiscent of sugar candy.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really flavorful, strong Ceylon! I’m not used to a Ceylon being as full-flavored as this! But it’s a bold, flavorful Ceylon with a really lovely burnt sugar caramel sweetness.
It’s a pleasantly smooth Ceylon too. It has some astringency to it, but it’s more like the tangy-tart qualities of a citrus fruit than a really jarring astringent tone.
There are some notes of malt to this cup too. The way the malt notes meld with the caramel notes is quite lovely and makes for a really enjoyable tea experience.
This has many of the qualities I expect from a Ceylon – a smooth, even flavor, for example. But I like the unexpected qualities that I’m discovering – the rich, bold flavor! It’s an invigorating tea that would take to the additions of milk and honey well if you’re looking to make this your next breakfast tea. This would be a good breakfast tea for those days when you’re looking for that gentle shake awake. It’s got a robust flavor but a non-aggressive attitude.
A really nice tea. I enjoyed about half my cup and then I was distracted from my tea for a while and when I came back to the cup, it was cold (yes, this does happen a lot, that’s the way it works when you’re a mom!) but even as a cold tea, it’s quite delicious!