Georgia Natela's Gold Standard Black Tea

I have been on a quest to try all different types of teas from elsewhere. What-cha fills in the need. This is my first Georgian tea. It has NO BITTERNESS. I feel you need 2 FULL tsp per 8 oz. I like my brew strong, so this is what I did. It’s mellow for a black, more mellow than what I usually drink or am used to.

Beautiful leaves. Just good for a mellow kind of day.

I have finally done it. Here is the review/tasting note for tea #200. As I eclipsed the 150 mark, I began to wonder if I could manage to find the time to try 200 teas this year. I then challenged myself to do so. Though I am cutting it close, this review marks #200 for me.

I prepared this tea Western style. I steeped approximately 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I have tried multi-step infusions for this tea in the past, but I have not liked the results quite as much as those obtained from a single extended infusion.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted gentle, pleasant aromas of toffee and raisin. After infusion, the scents of toffee and raisin were joined by malt and cream. In the mouth, gentle, superbly integrated notes of golden raisin, toffee, malt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pistachio, and roasted almond washed across the palate. The finish emphasized a lingering balance of the flavors described above plus a note of steamed milk. Overall, the flavor reminded me a lot of kheer, the Indian rice pudding.

This was a very sweet, mellow, resilient tea that seemed to adapt easily to a number of different brewing styles. There was absolutely no tannic bite or any astringency whatsoever. One thing I’m beginning to notice about a lot of these Georgian black teas is that their mild, balanced flavor and smooth texture give way to an extremely robust, flavorful, and long-lasting finish. With this tea, I was continually impressed by how much flavor lingered in my mouth after the swallow and how wonderfully soothing the afterglow was. Due to this tea’s lack of bite, astringency, and immediate caffeine jolt, I would not recommend it as a breakfast tea or as a tea to be paired with heavier foods. I would, however, strongly recommend it as an afternoon or evening tea to be consumed on its own or paired with lighter, sweeter fare.

Light, sweet malt with a hint of citrus. Completely lacking in bitterness, this tea seems impossible to oversteep; it’s soft, smooth, and quite pleasing.

Balanced perfectly between sweet, savory, malty, fruited, and bready, without being overtly any one of those. That’s what I find so hard to describe about these Georgian teas, they’re very subtle in their complexity. This one brews to a lighter hue than some other the others but is still stout, flavorful, with hints of acidity but no bitterness or astringency.

Yesterday and today I’ve brewed back-to-back sessions of two What-Cha Georgian teas — this one and Tamaz’s Tiny Tea Factory black tea. I could repeat for this tea nearly everything I wrote about the Tamaz’s, and will do so, while describing the slight differences I noticed:

The four What-Cha Georgian blacks that I’ve tasted demand nothing, yet offer plenty of subtlety to reward a closer look. I find this to be a delightful combination that continues to draw me to What-Cha’s Georgian teas.

Smooth. Gentle. No astringency or bitterness. A brightness, a nutty flavor, a bit of roastiness — and such balance that no one note is dominant; rather, awareness and observation reveal each.

Searching for the unique character of each of the Georgian teas is an enjoyable challenge for me, since I’ve found far more commonalities than differences. What I notice today is a fruitiness in this tea that I did not notice in the Tamaz’s, and a brightness that, while a characteristic of both, in the Natela’s I could describe as a lemon-like flavor without the slightest acidity. There’s some sweetness there too, but again, so well balanced that it calls no attention to itself.

Originally I started with a 3 min steep time (a minute shorter than the 4 min recommended) since black teas at full strength can be too harsh for me. But there is nothing harsh about this tea. It is flavorful (even at 3 min) without punching me in the face. I’ve also tried very long steeps, for a last steep of the session: even an hour or more! — still to great results.

Natela’s gives and gives – I’ve probably gone at least 7 in each of my two most recent sessions, keeping the time at 4 min per steep.

I like the shape of the leaf of this tea, medium length and wiry. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the flavor. It tastes tangy sweet, like there’s some sourness, kind of like a green apple. Oh, well, can’t like them all! Better for my wallet anyway. ;)

Mild, and slight toffee. Worth trying, but I can’t say I’ll get any more necessarily.

Yawn! What an insane couple of days at work (ok.. seriously…complain much??? This feels like its becoming a common theme). This was a nice relief this morning from the crazy, like a 10 minute oasis from insanity, seriously!Big thanks to Maddie Barone for the swap! The tea is soft in flavor and has a pretty mellow maltiness which isn’t overpowering or too in your face! With milk its tasty but really nothing to special…Enjoyed tasting but probably not something I’d end up ordering.

I going to try and spend the day with the What-Cha samples that Sil sent me. Thank you so much – was wanting to try their teas. :))

This is the first one up – I don’t think I’ve tried any Georgia teas before so wasn’t sure what to expect. This is different but nice. It’s really sweet with some fruity notes – seems a little grapey to me but could me more red berry (I so want to say raspberry but that would be just weird). This is lighter than the blacks I normally drink, but it’s not astringent, just a hint of the high note thing. This is a nice tea, I would drink it again. Thanks Sil for the opportunity.

This smells a lot like an Assam to me. And the flavor reminds me of one as well. I didn’t get any toffee, but there is a sweet maltiness to it. It would hold up well to cream and sugar if one desired. I did 1 1/2 teaspoons for 3 minutes rather than the recommended 4-5. I think at 4-5 you could probably spackle the wall with this it would be so strong.

It’s good but nothing I’d pick up to keep around. Thanks for sharing this, Maddy Barone :)