Hattialli Golden Paw Assam

Having a cup of tea before bed. Smells just like a mocha latte. Perfect!

The final sipdown. I am down to the last steeper basket. It smells nicely like cocoa, and little like yams. With maybe a little bread scent too. There is an apricot flavour with malt and other dried fruits notes. Made it a little strong, but I will miss this tea.

I’ve been drinking this one most of the weekend, which I spent at work hosting Nursing interviews. I went straight from my pouch of Hattialli Golden Lion to this one, and I have to say that I’m not noticing a huge difference, flavour-wise. If anything, this one is a little stronger in flavour, a little darker and more grain-like. I used 2 tsp of leaf for this cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk.

The initial flavour is primarily smooth dark chocolate. It’s rich and cocoa-like, and somehow almost thick tasting. Underneath that there’s a sweet maltiness, which helps to take the edge off the almost-bitterness of the initial flavour. I can detect a fleeting sweet potato note towards the end of the sip, but it doesn’t linger long.

It’s a hard call to make between Golden Lion and Golden Paw. They’re both excellent Assams, with bags of flavour; two of the best I’ve tried. I think on balance I’m leaning slightly towards the Golden Lion as my favourite, due to its creaminess and slightly sweeter flavour profile, but Golden Paw is a very close contender. Certainly a pair of teas I’ll never forget!

The nice thing about this tea is that even a casual tea drinker would be easily able to identify it as a unique offering in the Assam category of teas. The leaves are long and golden, reminding me of of my well-loved Dian Hong teas of China. The smell in the cup is strong, malty and a touch astringent, even at a steep of 3 minutes 30 seconds. The liquor also is a bit astringent, but that astringency is balance by the deep cocoa and malt flavor that come with the tea. The mouthfeel of Golden Paw is very assam-like, but then you start to pick up the wonderful apricot and cocoa flavors that usually come with a good golden Yunnan, and you wonder if perhaps the teas in your tea cupboard have been sneaking around at night, carousing and making wee blends of their own…..

Hattialli Golden Paw Assam would be the perfect tea to ease an assam drinker into other teas, specifically Yunnans. It’s stout malty flavors allow the more subtle fruit and floral flavors to make an appearance in a well balanced cup of tea. It holds up to milk well, as assams normally do. I will be hoarding this tea for special occasions and stealth education of reluctant students of tea drinking, like my husband, who swears Tetley is the nectar of the Gods….. for now.

Holy moly, another sip down. I now only have one Butiki tea left at this location while the rest are at (my other) home, so it’ll be slim pickings over the next few weeks (other than ATR).

I have had this in my cupboard for a while and have not yet gotten a chance to try it. Now as I sip on it, I am getting some bready notes but also some astringency. I find I am just looking for more. There are many other straight black teas that I just prefer to this.

If I didn’t know better I might have mistaken this for a Chinese black tea as the flavour was more reminiscent of a Yunnan with those distinctive tobacco-like notes and hints of bitter cocoa. But when the tea cools off a bit the slightly sweet, malty side of the tea becomes apparent. It’s not nearly as malty as some Assams that I’ve tried but it isn’t as harsh either and can easily be drank without milk. It’s a nice tea but personally I think I prefer Butiki’s Taiwanese Assam to this one.

Yum yum yum. Strong black tea with a little soy nog in it (because I still don’t have plain milky stuff!) instead of a coffee eggnog latte.

Delicious. I really like this tea. And I will miss it.

Now to get into Outside Clothes (instead of old PJs) to go get some groceries and do some meal prep for the week. I have an idea and a plan, so we’ll see what actually happens!

(2 steeps!)

I purchased this one from Ost in her stash sale. The second I saw two of Butiki’s straight blacks on her list, I pounced! They just so happened to be two blacks that I hadn’t purchased but was curious about. Gotta love how that works out sometimes. :P Anyway, I decided to cheat this morning and try this tea instead of drinking one of the black teas I’m supposed to be sipping down. Naughty! The leaves look surprisingly similar to a very tippy Yunnan. There are a ton of fuzzy metallic golden buds mixed with darker leaves. Dry scent is slightly malty and sweet (I confess, I stored this in a tin that used to house a fruity tea and I don’t think I let it air out long enough, so it smells slightly fruity too). I followed the recommended instructions aside from the water temperature.

Brewed, the tea smells very strong and malty/bready with some earth notes and a bit of sweetness. Whoa, I was not ready for the taste. I don’t have any experience with Assam teas, and I’m finding this to be extremely strong and quite earthy. I think I now know what “brisk” means when describing tea. Once I got past the initial taste, I found a fruity sweetness in the second half of the sip. There’s definitely a dark cocoa flavor that almost borders on bitterness, and a little spurt of floral in the aftertaste which was rather unexpected!

Overall, I was really surprised by the strength and intensity of this tea, especially after looking at the dry leaves. But the experience was a pleasant one for me, and I feel like my tongue got more and more used to the strong earthy flavor as I kept drinking. I think in the future, I’ll try this one with sugar or milk and see how that changes it. :)

Oops! logged under the wrong tea.