Premium Taiwanese Assam

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!
I thought for sure that I had posted a note on this one already but I guess I was wrong lol.
Anyways, This Tea is very delicious and smells wonderful and slightly different to me from other Assams that I’ve had.
I’ve drink this tea many times now but the first time I had it was a Sample that Stacy had sent with one of my orders and when I tried it I just had to get more because it was so good. This tea has kinda complex flavor notes from chocolatey and malty to fruity and sweet with a nice astringency to it. I don’t usually follow steeping instructions on teas instead I just tend to steep them My way which is very short steeps in a gaiwan, brewed this way it was nice and malty with a slightly sweet fruity note, slight astringency.
When I steeped this tea a little longer about 2 1/2 minutes It was very nice bold and malty with flavors of cocoa and cinnamon with some awesome sweet fruity notes like raisins and a pleasant astringency.
I enjoy an Assam with a bit of milk and sugar sometimes but I didn’t try this one with milk, I did however add a little sugar and it was really great. A little bit of sweetener makes the cocoa notes more like chocolate while keeping the maltyness and the fruity notes turn to sweet cherries and lots of other hints in there like caramel and apricot and pumpkin pie?? kinda cinnamon, spice?
I’m not sure that I would want to add milk to this tea because it’s really didn’t need the sugar since it perfectly good on it’s own, I think milk and sugar would be just too much.

I spent all my Sunday morning with this tea. It reconciled me with assams a long time ago and from now this is my favourite assam ever.
Any other assams as sweet to advice me ?
Here are somes pics of the tea here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/premium-taiwanese-assam-butiki-teas/

I’m trying to work through my samples from Butiki today and tomorrow. I think I’ve been avoiding them because they’re one-cup, and if I don’t log them immediately I’ll forget the detail.

Anyway. Assam was one of the first varieties of tea I tried, and it’s still my favourite. As assams go, this is an exceptionally good one. The leaves are the first wonder. They’re really long, quite thick, and a bit twisty. They’re also a really dark brown, almost verging on black. I’ve only seen this maybe once before, in a sample of Laoshan Black kindly sent to me by Sil, and I loved that, so I have high hopes for this one.

Brewed, this smells sweetly malty and slightly chocolatey. The liquor is a touch paler than I expected — a sort of medium-brown. Despite my reservations, I added a splash of milk. Thankfully, this is a tea that seems to accept milk pretty well, so I’m glad I did. To taste, this is, like all strong, malty blacks, supremely comforting. It tastes much like it smells — malty, with hints of cocoa, and a raisin-like fruitiness towards the end of the sip. As it cools, it tastes on a sweet, honey-ike taste that’s really quite delicious.

This is a black tea that could well become an all time favourite, and I’ll definitely pick up a bag with my next Butiki order. I’ve a sample of the upgrade version to try next, and I’m interested to see how they compare. Thank you to Stacy for the samples!

I got this sample from Shelley ages ago and am just getting around to drinking it now.

I followed the recommended steeping instructions and thought I’d first try this plain. It is malty but has a winey note almost like a keemun. The tea is very smooth and without much bitterness at all.

I did end up adding a touch of sugar and some soymilk. As the cup cools I am getting flavors of cocoa and also a bit of a bready flavor. Very flavorful and rich. This is nice! I can see why there are so many positive reviews, I am glad I got the chance to try it.

Thanks Stacy for including this sample in my order! I’ve only ever had this tea as the base for the caramel vanilla assam. Now that i’ve had it I can totally pick out the flavor from the blend, but it is fantastic on its own as well. Very smooth, no astringency, could totally be an every day tea. Glad I finally tried this one!

I don’t have time to write much but I just had to write a few words. Just because I am seriously amazed at the size and beauty of these leaves. I brewed the tea in the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker and when I came to get the tea I was amazed to see enormous tea leaves all over the inside of the tea maker. I rarely see leaves this perfect.
I couldn’t help myself – I stuck my hand in and took out some leaves to admire. I even showed them to my daughter, who was less impressed (how little she knows…). Me? I just stood there touching the leaves and oohh-ing and ahhh-ing.

Even when still dry the leaves were long and twisty, like dark oolongs, but with the malty Assam smell.

I admit I probably looked a little loony to anyone but other tea fanatics, but I really enjoyed these leaves.

Now I’m usually not a big fan of straight Assam, but this…this is different. It’s gentler, yet still hearty. It’s malty, but not overpowering. There are other flavors there that I have not yet recognized (OK, so yeah, I probably drank it too fast – but it was good!) I need to spend more time with this.

This is a sample from Stacy and it’s tasty. I’ve never had Assam (that I’m aware of) so it was neat trying something new :D

I spent my day in the best way possible…watching hockey on my laptop—Gamecenter is a beautiful thing-I can watch my team play hockey and not break my soul, watching F1 on my TV—my favorite driver wins and he does it quite often, reading a book and sipping tea. I think that’s my own personal version of heaven.

There are just some teas that make you feel joy and happiness. This one is one of mine. It is the most perfect black tea I have ever tried. This is going to sound loopy but it tastes almost like a really good pie crust. It’s sorta buttery but with a nice vanilla and cream flavor. Actually, strike that, it tastes like a custard. A really good custard. Eh, either way it works because it’s perfect. It’s also the smoothest black tea I’ve ever tried.

Thanks to Stacy for sending a sample of this one.

I usually don’t drink much black tea at home. Drink it most of the day at work and when I get home I’m usually in the mood for something else. Sil sent me several black tea samples, some I’ve taken to work but a couple I thought deserved to be treated better than that. It’s really cold, wet, WINDY here today. I thought it would be the perfect day to lie on the couch watch a couple of movies and drink some tea.
This was one of those teas. This is not for me. I’m not getting much flavor at all, it’s thin on the tongue, and not astringent but has that annoying “such all the moisture out of your mouth feeling” – wish someone would tell me what that’s really called. I got even less out of the 2nd steep.
Happy that lots of you love this tea, but it’s a HUGE miss for me. Thanks Sil for the opportunity to try it.

SIPDOWN! Thank you Stacy for this free sample! I’ve been waiting for a day where I can resteep this a lot haha because this is all I have of it, and im on a hiatus until at least September as I’m saving up for a kitty + its supplies :)

So onto this tea! The dry smell is quite chocolatey, so I was looking forward to the flavor already haha. I steeped the sample in 8 oz boiling water for 3 minutes. The result was a dark brown brew that that smells like cocoa and malt. Yum!!

As for the flavor, to be honest I haven’t had much experience with assams, the only other one I’ve had is tiger assam by A&D (which I haven’t written a note on yet I don’t think.. Oops) so that is my only comparison point. This tea has the same really smooth flavor. The chocolate notes are very much present, a dark deep chocolate too! No bitterness, a touch of honey in the aftertaste. Quite tasty, although difficult for me to describe haha. I can definitely see the resemblance to the tiger one though, so that’s good! It does remind me a bit of a roasted dark oolong, and a but of a yunnan black with the bit of honey, but it’s definitely unique.

Overall a very smooth, rich tea. It’s cozy and a bit seductive (lol, must be the smoothness). I like it, but would like more experience trying assams haha because I’ve probably missed a few notes in inherited flavor lol. But really good nonetheless!!

Oh, and i showed my mom how I make puerh in my gaiwan last night after her bday dinner. She thought it was pretty cool! She even tried a sipdown and said it was pretty mellow (a sheng). Also made her and dad ginger tea and EG respectively, and they both enjoyed their cups! Life sharing tea with people, especially family :)

ETA – the rating is probably off on on my phone, ugh, it was showing 3 then 92 but it should be 88. Once I’m on the computer I’ll make it right lol :)