Assam Mankota Exotic Black Tea Second Flush

great for breakfast. Ultimate wake-up tea. :)

Having one of ‘those’ days. Got loud on the phone with a young lady that was just doing her job. She works for our new internet provider. They lied to me. Surprise. I truly am one of the easiest going people you will meet. Once the line is crossed, I can kind of go all Hulk on you. All I want is for them to bury the cable from the satellite pole mount to my house. Now they want $100 for something that should have been done to start with. Sigh. I NEED tea.

This one struck me as awesome. The leaf smells sweet of hay and fruit. The leaf is gorgeous. I may have formed it into the shape of a heart for my blog picture, and I am neither a teenager or a girl. Steeped the ruby red brew has a sweet, fruity, maltiness.

The tea has a briskness that will open your eyes wide. It does not cross into bitter. It fades fast into a rich malt that continues into the aftertaste as is joined by a sweet kind of fruity note. Two thumbs up and I have never considered myself an assam guy.

In appearance this tea consists of: small, dark and curly leaves with some stems and golden tips present.

It smells sweet and woody with elements of cocoa, malt and smoke.

Once steeped this tea is garnet in colour and has a light malt scent with a hint of fresh wood.

Flavour is medium/strong in strength with rich malt tones that are slightly astringent and smoky. Also has a dark fruit flavour which goes into the after taste, prunes and dates in particular. Some dryness is present throughout.

As it cools it becomes more dry and seems thicker, especially the malt tones. Also getting fresh tobacco and wood shavings.

Overall: This was pretty much as I predicted: it was rich, it was dark and very full of flavour. The fruit flavours made me think of a few Taiwanese blacks that I have tried recently, so while this had Assam qualities it also kept my tasting fresh and interesting. That being said I prefer a more classic Assam. Also the quality was again very good.

For pictures and more information please view my blog.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/01/22/discover-indian-tea-with-golden-tips/

Very nice aroma, bold and fruity kinda flowery.

The first steep 3min as directed, Nice slightly bold body, slight fruity note like a peach followed by a smooth malty creamyness and a lingering astringency on the very end.

Second steep I just upped to 4min, Not quite as bold in the body but the taste is excellent! Fruity notes like plums instead of peach this time with a more intense malty creamyness and the astringency is only half as good as it was before but still lingers in a nice way.

The third steep again I just added one minute up to 5min, Still quite nice and tasty but very bold at all, friuty notes of plum still almost and a kind of raisin like note with smooth malty notes, not so creamy now and hardly any astringency at all.

I did a 4th steep but it came up too weak but still had a nice slight malty note.

Overall this one is Pretty good, the first steep delivered on the bold body and the second steep on the taste with a pleasant third steep also, it does lack a little in the body to me I don’t think I’d care for it with milk(like I enjoy most assams) unless it were made extra strong But at the same time it is a bit too tasty for milk and I don’t think it needs milk because that would weaken the taste of this tea itself, it’s good enough on it’s own.

The description is correct about this being super duper malty. Like most assams, I took a sip of it plain and then added a dash of milk. It wasn’t bitter, I just prefer this type of black tea that way usually. The maltiness still came through, and it was pretty good.