Assam Halmari Gold Black Tea Second Flush ( Clonal )

Tried a tiny bit of this from the tea box. I don’t normally drink straight tea, so my review for this is pretty meaningless. I did a short steep, so it wasn’t at all bitter. With a little sugar, it was pretty smooth and tasty. Tastes similar to other black teas I’ve had. Other than that, I can’t speak to its quality.

Discovery TTB #14

I usually love golden tip black teas, so I had to give this one a try. Sadly, it seems to be lacking the sweetness I usually associate with this type of tea. Instead, I found it to be quite bitter and astringent. A splash of milk smoothed it out nicely, though!

Oooo… The package smells divine. Molasses, malt, hay… Yum.

Steeped it turns into mostly exactly what it smells like. Molasses, malt and hay. Add a bit of astringency but not to an unpleasant level and this is quite a nice cup. Smells deep and rich. Add a dollop of cream and this becomes heavenly. One to add to the list for the next inevitable order.

This is a second flush Assam from Golden Tips Tea, picked in June 2014 on the Halmari Tea Estate. The dry leaf smells sweet and malty with a rich, nutty undertone, and it’s a treasure to look at. The leaves themselves are fairly thin and a little curly, mostly dark brown but with some lighter golden tipped leaves, and some pure golden leaves, scattered throughout. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a bright reddish-brown, and I added a splash of milk.

When I read the name of this tea, I was hoping that it would be a “Golden Lion” variety. These Assams have a lot in common with Chinese Yunnan black teas, which I absolutely adore. Judging by the scent of the wet leaf, it looks like my wish has been granted. Sweet potato and chocolate notes abound!

To taste, this one is an absolute delight. The initial sip is quite strong – very, very malty, with a strong squashy, yam like flavour. It’s also quite tannic, so perhaps to be avoided on an empty stomach. Successive sips show this to be a very smooth tea, although I’m pretty sure the milk is helping to round out what might otherwise have been quite rough edges. The chocolate notes emerge towards the end of the sip, and add an extra layer of sweet creaminess to what is already a sweet, smooth, malty cup. This is certainly a full-bodied tea; rich and flavourful, and immensely satisfying as a mid-afternoon pick me up.

See my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/06/30/halmari-gold-assam-golden-tips-tea/

A proper morning kick, though quite a standard assam IMHO. Miss the maltiness of other assams I tried from Golden Tips.
This one is o.k. but I probably won’t buy this again.

Put this leaf in front of me without telling me what it is and I would guess Golden Monkey. Beautiful dark leaf curls and golden tips. The fragrance is malt, and honey, and cocoa. Mmmmm. The brew is ruby/orange. I inhaled malt all the way to my lips. Then I was was hit with a rush of briskness. I did not flinch. Next I noticed how smooth and thick this felt. The taste is similar to the fragrance, though not as intense. This is not bitter. For an Assam, it wasn’t particularly drying. I am highly sensitive to tannins, especially in Assams. I could not drink this regularly on an empty stomach. I did, however, steep it four minutes, so willing to take the blame. A shorter steep might calm it down, though seriously it was pretty smooth after the initial hit. The addition of milk and sweetener might be another route. I just didn’t want any additions messing with it. No, I can’t believe I just wrote that either. The Splenda monkey is currently ashamed of me. He can go fling poo. This is too tasty for additions :) The aftertaste lingers of malt.

Guess what, it is game night! Also it is computer ordering time, yes my oh so wonderfully tech savvy boyfriend has found the perfect computer for me and is ordering it. I do not know much about it other than the screen is big, it is not Vista (I am free of the curse!) and I will probably be able to play Minecraft on it. So for all the terrible angst I have been going through with not having a computer, it looks like it will be having a happy ending. Also, guys, wish me luck that I do not manage to either blow myself up or damage my fellow party members in tonight’s D&D game!

Today we are taking a look at Golden Tips Tea’s Halmari Gold Assam Black Tea Second Flush (Clonal) a fuzzy golden tea from Assam, how neat! I have seen very fuzzy golden teas from places other than China, but the glorious fuzzy golds have become iconic to me, I always get excited seeing them from somewhere else. From the Halmari Tea Estate, these leaves come from the P126 Clonal bushes and are picked under very special circumstances, and of course, they are the highest grade of leaves with the GTGFOP grading. The aroma of these lovely fuzzies is pretty rich, a blend of maltiness that you expect from a high grade Assam, along with potent notes of cocoa, roasted peanuts, cooked cherries, and a subtle woodiness at the finish.

Into my fancy little steeping double boiler tea alchemy thingy the leaves go! After a nice steeping (thank you oh great and fancy timer app, though I am pretty sure programming it to sound like a Creeper hiss is going to bite me one day) the aroma of the leaves is again, very rich. There are notes of the expected malt, along with pepper, roasted peanuts, and a distinct oak wood undertone. The liquid is pretty much identical, it is very rich and malty, both the aroma of the leaves and the liquid is very rich and not at all sweet.

This tea wakes you up if you are asleep, I was expecting a rich and mild tea, again spoiled by Chinese fuzzy teas, what I got was an intense Assam. I have not had a straight Assam in a while, it used to be my go to black tea to drink, especially in the mornings, I loved the way its bold flavors wake you up and make you alert. The taste is very malty and accompanied by roasted peanuts and oak wood. There is a bit of an astringency to it, but it avoids being bitter, just super brisk. At the finish there is a bit of sweetness that lingers, like distant stewed cherries. Thank you Halmari Gold, I had forgotten my love of Assam’s intensity.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/golden-tips-tea-halmari-gold-assam.html

I’m not a big fan of this one,
I loved the in your face boldness of this one as it was quite strong to me(at first)with a good bit of astringency which I also enjoyed, no bitter tho, malty, slightly fruity at times with some bready notes and some woody notes even other than that nothing very special to make note of.
Not bad but not my cup of tea.
The second and third steeps didn’t keep the in your face boldness.
Would probably be pretty good steeped one good time strong with some milk and sugar or as a base to a chai maybe.
Not bad.

As the name entails, the dry leaf has pretty gold mixed throughout. Being an assam, it brews up with that familiar heavy, leafy scent. It has a very pretty blood orange color. It’s a strong assam. Some astringency and some bitter, nutty flavor. I do like the full-bodied-ness of it. Don’t think I’d buy this, but I’m gonna fool around with the rest of my sample and see if I can get a more pleasant brew out of it. Might be a decent base for you sugar lovers.

From the Golden Tips August subscription box

Bready.

It’s pretty good. I enjoyed it. I’ll probably drink the rest of this instead of passing it on.