I bought this tea from a local tea shop because I feel guilty for purchasing almost all of my teas online. Local tea shops have a hard time and if tea drinkers like myself will not buy teas there once in a while they will sadly completely disappear.
This tea is probably the one that Arbor Tea sells as its Organic Vietnam Nam Lanh Estate Black Tea. It is grown by a cooperative in North Vietnam.
It’s interesting. Has a nice dry leaf smell of honey, raspberries and ripe blackberries. If you brew it for shorter periods it tastes like a decent Yunnan, with a fairly typical honey, chocolate, malt and berry profile – but with an additional kick of body and bitterness reminiscent of Indian Assams. If you steep it for longer (or use more leaf, which worked better for me) it becomes much more like an Indian Assam enriched by the dianhong notes. Or you can go for something in between of those two extremes. By adjusting the steeping time and the amount of water you can get at least three different teas out of it. Does not resteep well, unfortunately.
It’s a robust tea, the Yunnan palette is not very complex but clean it blends well. A breakfast tea. If anyone is looking for something in between assams and dianhongs this is a tea for you. I liked it.
Flavors: Bitter, Blackberry, Dark Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Molasses, Raspberry
Mmm, I tend to like Vietnamese blacks.
Yeah, I am intrigued by them as well – planning to hit Hatvala hard and explore in depth.