4 Tasting Notes
This a pleasant Assam. The packages I have bought are marked organic. I have bought it several times, and the flavor and quality have been consistent.
This is not a complex tea. It is smooth, hint of maltiness, a lovely dark, rich taste. Takes milk very well. Would be pleasant mixed with another smooth, more complex tea.
I really enjoy this one. Has a bit of a splurge taste, a thickness that I find very nice.
If I remember correctly it was $9.50 per pound, plus taxes.
I use two rounded teaspoons of tea for just under four cups of filtered, purified water. Water is boiled in stainless steel over gas flame. Steeping time: 4:30. It might hold up to a tad longer steeping time.
To me, this one is good enough to give as a present, if the other person knows it is a daily, or almost daily tea, not an extraordinary tea. It is very nice to have an inexpensive Assam available at a place where one buys the weekly groceries. (I wouldn’t drive across town merely for the tea.)
ETA on August 26, 2011: This tea leaves a residue, not only in the teapot and tea cups, but on my teeth. As nice as it is to drink, I have stopped drinking it, because it is so hard to clean the tea stains off my teeth.
Preparation
This is a clean-tasting tea, bit of almost citrus-like layer on top of the taste. It is nice with a tiny bit of lemon juice in it. To me, it doesn’t have enough body or strong undertones for milk. It isn’t good enough to savor plain.
The flavor is not multi-faceted. It is enjoyable, for what it is.
The bulk teas at DeKalb Farmer’s Market are packed in plastic containers, exposed to light. Plastic is permeable, so the flavor of the tea is continually lost through the plastic, and other smells get in. I put their teas into glass jars stored in a cupboard, immediately.
The price is comparable to loose Lipton at a grocery store. The quality of the tea is only a tiny bit higher.
It is a pleasant, useful, ordinary tea.
I use filtered, purified water. Boiled in stainless steel over gas flame. Two, rounded teaspoons of tea leaves for just under four cups of water. Steeping time: 4:30. I preheat two pots. One for the steeping, and then strain it into the pot I use for serving.
I like that I am not paying for a brand name or expensive packaging. The quality and taste have been consistent over the last six months.
It is an enjoyable tea, if one knows that it is basically a grocery-store tea. Much nicer than the store-brand, tea bags on the lower shelves at grocery stores, but nothing really special.
Editing to add, on August 26, 2011: Have been drinking this tea black as a substitute for the Assam. I use circa 1.5 tsps. for 3.5 cups water. It is pleasant and smooth, and it doesn’t stain my teeth like the Assam does.
Preparation
A friend sent a box of Barry’s Gold from Ireland. It is has a stronger taste than PG Tips or Bewley’s Green Label. It is not a tea to slowly sip, black, and enjoy facets of complex layers of flavor.
It is a kick-start tea, to drink with a bit of your favorite dairy liquid, for the purpose of waking up quickly.
The reason I am giving it as high a rating as I am, is that it is a useful tea for its kick, and is less unpalatable than the packaged teas sold in the USA.
For jump-start tea in a box, it’s not bad. It is what it is. The caffeine and theobromine will get you going.
Preparation
Am now on the 13th steeping and am amazed. New aspects of flavors and layers of “colors” of taste in every steeping. This tea has changed my view of buying very expensive teas. I have been timing three minutes for each steeping.
I use water filtered through a carbon filter, and then through a Berkey water filter, with the added cartridges to remove all chlorine and fluoride.
I highly recommend this tea.
Here is the website, if someone can read Chinese:
http://caolytea.shop.rakuten.tw/
I tried to find the teas I have on the website, using Google translator. As far as I can tell, they are not listed. The person who went to China and bought the teas at the shop, told me that the woman at the shop said that they carry hundreds of teas that they do not sell outside of China. If I find this tea listed somewhere, I will post about it.
I’m working my way through their tea selection, too! I’ve been meaning to try their plain Assam. I enjoyed the vanilla, so I’m sure it’s good on its own…
Hi, Tabby. :) If someone enjoys flavored teas, I think the plain Assam might have enough richness and body that it wouldn’t taste too plain. I don’t drink flavored teas, so can’t say much more.
I bought more of the Assam recently, and it is just as nice as the first few “batches” I bought.