T.T.E.S. No. 18: Ruby Black Tea

Backlogging this as well…almost lost my last little bit of this one in one of my stashes! Eeeeek! I will treasure what little I have left! YUM!

Thanks to LiberTeas for sending me a sample of this to try! It’s gloomy and rainy here this morning so it seemed like the perfect time to try this out.

Red teas are intriguing to me. The wet leaves here had an aroma of malt and cocoa. The cup is very smooth and sweet tasting at the beginning but then gets sort of bitter and astringent at the end, I think I will try steeping this at a slightly lower temp next time. The predominate flavors I am getting here are malt and chocolate with a nice fruitiness of plums. I was drinking this plain but then decided to add some soymilk because it is so strong. I think I will need to take the rest of this home and gong fu it to see if I get better results. It’s pretty neat stuff though.

Tea of the morning….. (SRP #15)

And one from LiberTEAS. Wow. The way I brewed this tea this morning would put hair on your chest. Of course, me being female, that is not really a very attractive thought. Since I am not one to add milk, and the stronger teas take some adjustments on the brewing parameters for me, I must try again. But whoa, this was strong. Stay tuned for another attempt at a later date. So far, I got malty, earthy with a bit of astringency, and a whole lotta briskness. I need to go lighter on the leaf and shorter on the brew time for my next attempt.

This is the final tea that I’m tasting from the ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club. The aroma of the brewed liquor is fascinating. It has an unusual spice tone that is quite intriguing.

The flavor is really deep and delicious. Very rich and bold. It has a heartiness to it that I’m really enjoying. Pleasant malty tone. Earthy. There is even a smoky tone in the distance. A moderate amount of astringency to the cup.

A delightful cup of tea. Definitely glad I had the opportunity to try it.

Yet another tea from LiberTEAS box.

This is a very nice black! It’s pretty strong and has a definite astringency that lingers in your mouth with a nice tart flavor. It’s pretty full in your mouth, and has a definite tartness in the foreground that I can’t place my finger on. It’s almost like a dry tartness, like a champagne type flavor. When it was hot it had more of a woody and almost smokey flavor, but as it cools that disappears and the tartness and astringency becomes a lot more pronounced.

Many people have described this tea as a bit of a chameleon because it can take on so many different flavor profiles depending on who steeps it, but this example from YuanShiang farms is spectacular, and I’ll describe it as my palate interprets it.

I’ve included a few more pics and info in my blog review here: http://bit.ly/v4Y5Yu.

You can definitely tell that it’s an Assam underneath the processing. Malty, medium astringency, bright. Then there’s the spice, the red and blue fruit flavors, and I detect an aftertaste that reminds of tobacco or leather. It’s very much like a red wine, but with the Assam underneath, it’s that much better!

The Ruby name might refer to the color of the liqueur, but strangely enough it “tastes” like what I would expect a “red” beverage to taste like, whether wine or tea. Not fruity in the citrus or sweet vein, but like a tart raspberry or grape.

And the leaves are long and appear to be delicately rolled or “handcrafted” as the jargon goes.

I guess I have The Global Tea Taster’s club to blame once again for adding another “must have” to my repertoire.

This smells Very sweet and a bit dark.

The taste is very round and full on the tongue, a rich dark Assam taste without bitterness or burnt flavor at all. It is very sweet/malty around the back of the throat and a bit fruity in the nose. A pleasing taste! There’s also something there with the zinginess of mint without the flavor.