Mountain Organic Indonesian Black Tea

I’m excited to try a tea that comes exclusively from Indonesia. Although the dry leaf isn’t the prettiest I’ve seen, the scent is sweet and strong. I have to fight the temptation to add milk since I have a feeling it would take milk beautifully. I do want to try this first cup plain to see what this tea is all about!

Sipping… this is so nice and sweet. I really enjoy how simple this cup is.. it’s sweet, smooth and generally a satisfying cup. There isn’t anything unpleasant that gets in the way — no smoke or bitterness. I could see this being a nice replacement for a morning Assam. I think I might try my next cup with milk, but it’s very nice without!

Thank you to Tea at Sea for a sample of this one.

This tea has been hanging out in my countertop basket for a few weeks, and on a whim I picked it up today.

Thoughts on the packaging: It’s quite adorable! I love the blue and the whimsical pictures. I found myself wondering if someone had to hand tie all of those little strings and what they did to deserve being punished like that. Now, here’s a serious question. I only have these little sample thingies and not full sized packages from them. But are they all packaged this way? Because I was dismayed to find that once I cut the top off of the little zip loc baggie, there went the label with the type of tea. I went ahead and used it all in one steeping since there was no way to put it back with the rest of the sample. And boy howdy, was there a lot of leaf! I also wish there was a recommendation as far as steep length and leaf amount on the tag (it just had temp in C).

So anyway, the tea. I went 3 minutes out of habit, although I was really thinking maybe I should cut it short due to the large amount of leaf. There were quite a few stems in there too, and maybe that’s normal for an Indonesian tea, I don’t know.

But damn, I really liked the end result! I sort of expected it to be just another black tea, but it had a unique flavor profile. I wish I could be better at picking out flavors but I sort of stink at it once we get past the really obvious ones. There are so many people on here who seem to be able to say a tea tastes like a 1972 naugahyde and such, but not me. The best I could come up with was that it tasted maybe a little fruity, but dark fruits, or possibly vegetal. I know, I suck. But the tea was great!

Oh my god.

Oh my god, this tea.

I didn’t read ANY tasting notes on this before I brewed it myself, and my notes look nothing like everyone else’s. Maybe my tastebuds are whack tonight, but if they’re whack I never want to go back. This is hands down one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted.

I used 1.5tsp of leaf for 10oz of water. Steep times were 2min, 3mind, 3min.
The tea liquor is very light. The aroma is fresh, floral and honey-sweet. It’s a delicate, light-bodied tea that exudes the fragrant greenness of springtime. In some respects it’s like an oolong. (Flavors, body, appearance.) I had a hard time believing this was a black tea. It’s honey, fresh, plantlike…then it takes a turn into caramel-drizzled sponge cake. Light, buttery soft. There’s a creamy aftertaste that’s reminiscent of marshmallows. BLEW my mind. It makes me think of a dark-roasted milk oolong. Pure heaven. It coats your mouth with sort of a malty, creamy taste, but without the dark heavy flavors I associate with malt. (Molasses, chocolate, etc.) There is a wood-like undercurrent. Cedar, I think. It’s slightly roasty and drying like a rock oolong. Only slightly, though. (I keep going back to oolong.) For the most part it’s honeysuckle—green and fresh—like spring. I want this tea around forever.

Simply put:
Indescribably lovely.

Oh god, I’ve been terrible at doing my writing up my reviews for samples. My goal is now to do one a day.

I’m really glad I waited on this one till I got my water filter. I think it would have been completely ruined by my tap water. It was actually quite delicate and sophisticated. I’m a bit zoned out right now so I didn’t get many specific notes. Just a general feeling of refined contentment.

I will try to add more useful information next tasting.

Smooth, a little ‘chewy’ with malt and rich spring earth plus a vague hint of sweetness. Pleasant overall flavor with sustained, mildly astringent finish. Noticing now that Tea at Sea recommends using more than a tsp of tea, will try that next time. Would be happy to be served this tea in a restaurant. Thanks to Tea at Sea for the sample!

Backlog:

One of the better Indonesian Black teas that I’ve tasted. Thick with malty tones and no discernible bitterness to this tea. It’s just smooth and sweet. It has a nice caramel note that keeps me sipping. The caramel and the malt together remind me of the chewy crust from a freshly baked loaf of french bread.

A lovely and complex tea: notes of wood, a distant smoky note. Warm and earthy. A really good tea.

Read my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/22/organic-mountain-indonesian-black-tea-tea-sea/

Thanks for the free sample, Tea at the Sea. It comes with a cork sailboat? I’ll need to make that for my bookshelf. I do like the little sample bags.
It’s something that would look nice a gift shop of a port town.

It smells lovely. I really should have more unflavoured black teas. This has a sweet, malty flavour. Shall have to make some again in the morning.

Mmmm, this smells like chocolate and malt once it’s steeped up.

Tastewise, it’s very malty, with intense honey notes and just a bit of stone fruit. It’s incredibly smooth and despite the richness of flavors and thickness of the cup, the finish feels quite crisp and a bit lemony/citrus.

This is kind of like the love child of a Yunnan and a Darjeeling. And what a beautiful child it is.

I’m finally getting around to tssting this lovely tea sample from Tea at Sea. Having tasted it I think it fits perfectly in my collection as a nice afternoon tea when I want something that has the brightness of a darjeeling, but the honeyed cocoa notes of many chinese blacks. It has a nice complexity of brightness, spicyness, sweetness and depth, in a light to medium bodied tea with a creamy and syrupy texture. I will most likely buy some in the future.

The dry leaves have bright sharp note of Darjeeling, and a touch of toast and cocoa and lemon.

They are tightly rolled, dark roasted leaves with some stems.

1tsp/225ml @96°C

3min pretty mid amber orange colour
Scent. Lemon, honey, floral (dames rocket), cocoa, cinnamon, smells a little like scented honey over malt.

Flavour grain cocoa note dissolving into honey blended with a cream note with a touch of light floral, with lemon accent. Smooth texture with lemon honey spice aftertaste and a hint of astringency, thinner texture. I would not add milk. Quite a nice afternoon tea. Kind of like a Darjeeling, blended with a lighter bodied, honeyed Fujian with cocoa notes, with the Darjeeling characteristics in the foreground and the Fujian notes lingering afterwards.

330. Strong honey, cut with lemon, green floral, cocoa, hint of amber and a bit of pepperyness. creamy and light with bright top notes dominating.

Resteeps very well. I look forward to further this evening.

Lovely honey cocoa tempered with bright fruit and floral notes. Very nice afternoon tea.

Smell: The smell is strong and malted. It’s probably one of my favourite fragrances I’ve smelled in a while. It’s almost like I was burning an incense. Hmmm..maybe I should use this tea for tea meditation? ;)

Taste: Before I tasted the tea, I was kind of caught off guard and distracted with the little boat they sent with the teas. Every purchase comes with a little cork sail boat made from half of a bottle cork and a paper sail like in my Instagram photo above. After it is steeped, you are left with a lovely reddish brown colour. I’ve been calling it my “down to earth” tea because of all the rich, earthy flavours I am experiencing. I kind of notice hints of sweetness coming from a caramel or honey taste. I particularly enjoyed this blend because of the surprise flavours I am left with through each sip. The flavours are slightly smokey (which I’m not too crazy about, but glad it’s not over bearing!). You can especially notice that in the after taste. It’s a great tea to try out, and you can play with the packaging. What’s not to love!

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