Mountain Organic Indonesian Black Tea

This tea makes me happy. Despite a full Western steep of 5 minutes, the tea came out somewhat light-bodied and very fresh tasting with a soft mouth feel and nice malt tones. As it cooled a bit, an almost cocoa thing came to the fore. The second steep was certainly palatable, but fainter all around. A very nice introduction to Tea at Sea.

I really wish that I could have enjoyed this tea more, but I got super nauseous in the middle of it:( Stupid body..
From what I gathered, it’s pretty malty, but also pretty woody. I didn’t have enough time with it to decide whether or not I would like to try this again :/
But guess now I need to so I can write a better tasting note-haha!

Finishing off my sample, finally. :) I actually really like this one, it’s quite aromatic and has a really lovely depth of flavour to it. Today I’m getting notes of malt, floral, cedar, and honey that all linger into the aftertaste. Bumping up my rating a bit.

Macro Polo TTB

Yours truly is currently sitting in a hotel room in North Carolina, near Lake Norman. Apparently there is an exceptionally large lake nearby, but I cannot see if from my hotel. What I can see is a my travel gaiwan making tea for my mom and myself as we watch TV and relax before finish the road trip to South Carolina. It is pretty exciting to be writing from a hotel, I am not sure why but I feel super fancy with my travel gaiwan far away from home.

Today’s tea brings a bit of closure to a series, quite a while ago I looked at Tea At Sea’s other teas from Indonesia, and today I am reviewing Mountain Organic Indonesian Black. I find it really interesting to experience the green, oolong, and now the black, it was like a journey! The aroma of this tea is sweet and malty, there are notes of berries and raisins with a hint of roasted peanuts at the finish. I shan’t deny it, the dry leaves smell quite yummy, but I do love my sweet black teas.

Brewing the tightly balled leaves brings a malty, rich, aroma from my gaiwan. Investigating the now wet leaves even further with my nose reveals sweet berry notes and a touch of metallic, there is also a tiny note of yam at the finish. The liquid from the first steep is malty and sweet with tasty notes of molasses and yam, with a tiny finish of raisins.

After that especially enjoyable sniffing, it is time for tasting! The first sip is very sweet and quite smooth, it starts out malty and builds to fruity notes of plum and berries. This transitions into a richer, heavier finish of yams and oak wood, the finish is malty and it has a lingering sweetness.

I decided to go for another steep (because it is me, of course I go for another steep) and the aroma has managed to become sweeter, notes of honey and berries with a touch of plum and yam. The second steep is quite similar to the first but brings out more sweetness and berry notes, it is honey sweet with a rich malty finish. This is a great tea for when you are in the mood for a super sweet black tea that is both rich and mellow.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/10/tea-at-sea-mountain-organic-indonesian.html

Marco Polo TTB

I lost my note for this and all I remember is I would buy it sometime and that I liked it more than the other black tea I was drinking.

Lewis & Clarke TTB

First of all, these Tea at Sea tins are the cutest thing ever… :P On a more general note, I’m going to try to keep my tasting notes somewhat short because there are so many teas in this box that I want to try.

This tea is fairly unique-looking, I don’t think I’ve seen a rolled black tea before. It smells sweet, fruity, and grainy with a touch of hay. The aroma is similar to the Sansia Black I had this morning – very fruity with molasses, but this one has a touch of caramelized brown sugar too, and a touch of bread.

Taste-wise, I really like this one! It’s a bit musty and mineral at the beginning of the sip, but it quickly mellows out to a lovely and delicious grainy bread flavor that reminds me of white tea. I don’t notice a lot of the fruit from the aroma, maybe a little bit if I try really hard! There’s definitely a honey sweetness over the top, which does perfectly with the creamy grain/bread taste. Lovely! I would absolutely buy this one, especially with the cute tin!

L&CTTB

This is a nice, easy drinking black tea. Not too malty, but it’s definitely got some maltiness to it. Not too heavy, but it’s got a nice flavor. Not too much of anything, but a good amount of what it is. I enjoyed it.

I am debating on getting some of this one or not. I’m going to get the Indonesian Oolong and Green for sure. I’ve got other blacks I enjoy. My husband also had a cup of this and said it was nice. (He declined a second infusion, but that doesn’t mean anything.)

Lewis and Clarke TTB

When I placed my order with Tea at Sea, this was on of the only teas I didn’t get, so I figured I’d give it a shot when I saw it in the box since I love black teas now.

The first steep is sweet, with notes of honey, molasses, raisins, and something a little manly, cedar?
For the second steep I added a minute to the time. This time there’s some malt, and a slight smokiness in the background.
Added another minute for the third steep. This one is a little less sweet than the first and second, with more malt, cedar and smoke notes than before.

So, I guess I was just tired from how busy I’ve been lately (I’ve barely been home the last few days, which is why I haven’t been posting much), because I passed out on the couch at around 8:30, right after posting my last tasting note. I usually am up until about 3-4 in the morning.

This dark oolong-looking tea is very tasty and does end up seeming more like a black than an oolong. My first Indonesian black. A felicitous experience. I steeped the leaves twice, and both batches were very good.

Sipdown (103)! Ooh, I’m getting close to being under 100 for the first time since I went way over on my fall tea buying spree last year. Anyway, I remember having this as a cold brew just a little while ago, so I was very surprised today when I steeped it hot. As a cold brew, it was light, sweet, and refreshing. As a hot tea, it is totally different, but not necessarily in a bad way. It is definitely much bolder (but that could also be due to a different leaf/water ratio). It’s much maltier and has a touch of smokiness that I did not detect at all in the cold brewed version. I think I prefer the cold brew, surprisingly, because it was lighter and didn’t have the smokiness to it. I did quite enjoy the sample from Tea at Sea, but I do not think I will reorder this one just because there are many other straight blacks that I prefer and/or want to try out.

Edit: As the cup cooled down, there was also some tartness to the tea. Interesting.