Assam Black

Adventaggedon Day Eighteen – 3/6

We’ve been getting a lot of Chinese/Japanese teas in this advent, so it was a nice surprise to see an Indian black tea this morning. It was an even nicer surprise to see how long, spindly and beautiful the well twisted leaves were – definitely a very nice grade of tea to be coming out of Assam. Not common at all.

It was probably my favourite tea of the day – and there were a lot of good ones today. As I said in a different tasting note yesterday, I’ve been craving black teas a lot lately – so that probably helped. It was deliciously smooth even though it had a lot of body and the taste was so rich. Very golden with a lot of starchy sweet notes: fresh bread with a thick golden crust on it, baked yams, caramelized sugars. Also bits of molasses and dark honey, and a little golden raisin.

I wish I would have made myself a larger amount of this during the day, but I was worried I wouldn’t get all my advents in before five – I had a bit of a mid afternoon pause from advents while Marika and I did some recording. That just means I have lots of the sample left though, so I’ll enjoy this lovely tea again on a later date!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmU0moLO1Ug/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn_0AfLiyg4

I think this is the third song I’ve shared from this album in the last couple months. It’s a really good and comforting album – would totally recommend if you just need chill Sunday afternoon music vibes.

The Tea Practitioner Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 18

This tea has beautiful long, dark, twisty, spindly leaves. I’ve had Taiwanese Assams before that looked similar, but I don’t think I’ve ever had such a large-leaf Assam from India.

It’s very smooth and malty, and fairly light in body. There’s a touch of green beany savoriness that reminds me a bit of a Chinese black tea, along with those nice, deep brown sugar and raisin notes that are common among Assam teas. Definitely some woody and earthy qualities as well, which I would also associate more with hongcha.

This is an interesting one, to me it almost tastes like the fusion of a classic Assam and something like a golden monkey. I like both of those styles, so it’s quite enjoyable for me! Also love how incredibly smooth it is, and surprisingly light.