Assam "Black Beauty" #8

Hands down my favourite black tea, my go to each morning.

Back in February I reviewed this tea with great praise and a 100 rating, as it matched my memory of many years ago that led, in part, to my tea-sipping habit. I immediately re-ordered and received more of that terrific lot (best by 08/2026; sadly Tealyra does not specify lot numbers when ordering). Subsequently, I noted their supply dwindling and selling-out on their website. While preparing my Mother’s day order a couple weeks ago I found that the supply of Black Beauty #8 had been replenished. Out of curiosity, I included a small pack with my order. Received last week, it did not surprise me to see it was a new lot (best by 11/2026).

The surprise came this week when I broke open the seal and was hit by a fabulous aroma in the dry leaf, that was both deeply malty and with notable black walnut character. It actually gave me goosebumps to smell this tea leaf! I brewed it up and it is even better than the previous lot. It has my rating “meter” pegged at 100 and I would rate it at 105. As it cooled, the notes of brown sugar joined the malty raisin flavors in a trio of happiness. This makes a superb iced tea as well. (Fear-not, although black walnut was an aroma in the dry leaf, there was no such aroma or flavor in the infusions.) I have now ordered more, and was pleased to find a 30% discount code online which stacked with the free FedEx delivery offer. If you’ve been waiting to try this tea, now might be a good time to place an order.

I was excited to try this tea, partly due to the description (it sounds exactly the kind of tea that I like), and partly due to the fact that I had great success with Tealyra’s Brandy Oolong, which is currently my favourite tea. In fact I had ran out of Brandy Oolong and placed another order especially to get some more, and I added this tea to the order as well. It wasn’t long before it arrived that I was brewing it.

Appearance-wise it looks fantastic, brewing up a wonderful rich amber colour. The smell is slightly sweet and very inviting.

As for the taste… just wow. It delivers as per the description. It shares a creamy, caramelly smoothness with the Brandy Oolong that I love so much. This is like no Assam that I have tried before; if anything I would say that it is closer in taste to Golden Monkey, which I love.

I find that it holds up to multiple steeps relatively well. I went for 2 minutes, then 3m 45, then 8m (basically as long as you want, you’re just extracting any remaining flavour here). Even at the last steep it wasn’t bitter.

A little expensive perhaps, but I imagine that I’ll be treating myself to some more of this before long.