CTC Assam

Although it’s a CTC, don’t look down your nose at it. Quite delicious, very fast to brew (1 minute is enough). This is what I want tea to taste like when I just want it to taste like tea! Except when I want it to taste like keemun, or Earl Grey, or dragonwell, or cinnamon spice, etc….you get the idea! Okay, It’s just one song in the album— but it’s a good song!

It’s Saturday and I’m still cleaning out the backlog. I finished the last of a sample pouch of this tea yesterday morning and I’m just now getting around to posting a review. For whatever reason, I could not motivate myself to do anything after getting home from work yesterday. Anyway, this was a nice CTC Assam. If you are the sort of person who enjoys strong, malty breakfast teas, this one should be right up your alley.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 212 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions. Just to be clear, you do not have to steep this tea that long. I prefer CTC teas to be very rich, brisk, tannic, and astringent, so I utilize a longer infusion. One can still get good results out of a 3-4 minute infusion with this tea.

Prior to the infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted a mildly malty aroma. After infusion, I picked up aromas of brown toast, malt, caramel, leather, molasses, and nuts. In the mouth, the tea liquor was lively and astringent, offering robust notes of caramel, molasses, leather, wood, black walnut, hickory, brown toast, cream, and malt underscored by hints of dark chocolate and brown sugar. The finish offered a swell of malt, cream, toast, caramel, and molasses.

In a separate session, I also tried this tea with a little 2% milk added. It completely transformed. The liquor remained strong, but the astringency all but disappeared. The tea’s woodier, toastier, nuttier qualities took a backseat while the caramel, brown sugar, molasses, cream, dark chocolate, and malt came forward.

I greatly enjoyed this CTC Assam. If you have had teas of this type before, this one will likely not surprise you in any way. For what it is, however, it is very nice. As a breakfast tea, it really hit the spot.

I have been looking for a good quality, inexpensive Assam which I can have on a daily basis for my morning cup(s). This one is perfect for that!

The quality is very good, even though the price is cheap and the leaves are CTC rather than whole leaf. I have brewed it for a few days in a row now and the taste is consistent each day. I taste the usual maltiness and slight astringency of a quality Assam, along with a light toast flavor. It has a full body and caffeine so this will certainly get you started in the morning! As far as CTC or bagged teas go, I’d rather have this tea than nearly all other brands/varieties which I’ve tried for my morning cup (one exception off the top of my head is No. 18 Brahmin by Steven Smith, but that is a bagged, full-leaf tea, not bagged fannings/dust). I still prefer an orthodox, loose-leaf tea as frequently as possible, but I am recognizing that I can’t do that and still stay within my monthly budget! :)

Overall, it is an excellent quality Assam for what it is. I recommend it for anyone else looking for an inexpensive Assam to have on a regular basis.

This is another sample from Ost, generously included to further my assam education. As this is a CTC, you will not be surprised to learn that it consists of tiny brown pellets. The smell is quite tannic and it brews up a mahogany color. Everything about this tea is BOLD, including the taste. It’s also a bit bitter, quite tannic, and has a scratchy feel to it on the tongue. I much prefer RiverTea’s Assam Beast of the East, but both a kind of “meh” to me. Ok, but not amazing.

Got my H&S order today ^^ So excited. And all the teas smell fantastic. Can’t wait to try them all. And had to try an Assam first of course!
This one was definitely not as strong as I hoped. It’s kinda malty. Slightly sweet, not as much without the honey/malt combo. But glad I tried it, and didn’t buy more than that. xD Think I also got another Assam with my order…maybe that will be stronger.

I tried this bagged. Everything I could ask for in a black tea. Rich without bitterness, somewhat full bodied.

This my go-to everyday morning cup – strong, firm body and takes milk and sugar like a champ. If you are looking to switch from coffee to tea – this is your tea. Good for homemade blends as well like chai. Very reasonable at $13/lb