Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Assam’

Recently we received a bunch of samples from Tao Tea Leaf for reviewing. Taos is an online shop, but also has a physical presence in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada (for our US friends ).

I had been comtemplating the reviews of Taos teas for a while, when I got an invitation for a Pu-erh tasting with a bunch of other IAATL reviewers, and was surprised to hear that it was at Taos! Well, needless to say, I accepted, and was VERY glad that I did! Without going indepth, lets just say it was an amazing morning with much Pu-erh, from this years Sheng, to a 10 year old Sheng worth an estimated $300/100g – a real honour! All this motivated me to do a review for Tao myself.

I chose the Golden Monkey, because it is not a tea that I have ever had before. This required a bit of research, and I have found that Golden Monkey is generally considered a high grade black tea grown in the Fujian Province of China. It is from a special variety of the tea bush that, after withering, some leaves become golden in color, making the finished product a very beautiful mix of black and gold leaves.

The sample from Tao matches this description. I found the leaf to be tightly rolled, almost needle like in it’s delicacy. The golden leaves were beautifully mixed in with the black, and definately of higher volume that the black leaves. Typically, this tea is picked during the spring season (April to May), giving it a fresh scent and flavour.

The liquor brews up golden in color, lighter than an Assam black, but darker than a Da Hung Pao Oolong. It’s scent is that of a light Assam black, with honey like notes. It reminds me of the (now closed) Simple Leaf Honeybee Oolong, both in scent and with the color of the liquor – a favorite tea of mine, so I was very much looking forward to tasting!

The flavor is tough to describe, so I am going with complex It is light and smooth, cooling in the mouth, with malty, chocolate and honey tones. There is an underlying sweetness, but with an edge of astringincy to it, very slight, but coming forward as the tea cools. The most notable feeling I get is an icy after “taste” in my mouth! That leads me to believe this would also be a great iced tea.

I love the flavour of this tea. It is one that you will want to have cup after cup, as you explore the flavours in it. Each sip brings forth different feelings, and the flavours continue to unfold the more you drink. This tea is like a new friend, the more time you take with it (them) the more you will get to know it (them) and enjoy its (their) company .

This is what I expect from Tao. After the amazing Pu-erh’s, and an incredible Da Hung Pao (if I can tear myself away from just enjoying that one, I will review it!), this further confirms to me that Tao knows what he is doing with his tea selection. If you live in Toronto, go and see him! If you don’t, then check out his website, or even call him on the phone, I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

You can purchase the Golden Monkey directly from the Tao Tea Leaf website.

I’ve never had a plain Assam before. The closest I’ve come is the Irish Breakfast by Twinings which is a blend of Ceylon and Assam. I’m always fascinated by the string of letters found in the names of many teas, but I really have no clue what they were supposed to mean for me. I did a bit of research and apparently STGFOP stands for “Special Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.” Since that still doesn’t tell you much, I continued to peruse the internet looking for more information and from what I have read the letters refer to the leaf size. With STGFOP being the second largest leaf behind the FTGFOP designation.

I expected the dry leaves to be plain black leaves, but there is a fair amount of golden hay colored leaves as well. The scent of the dry tea is earthy and malty. While steeping, the aroma takes on a heavier malty aspect which I love. The brewed tea is a medium-brown in color.

I tried the tea plain at first and was surprised to find a very robust cup with little astringency. The additions of milk and sugar were handled nicely and encouraged the malty aspect of the tea to shine. As the tea cools, a slightly sweet honey flavor creeps in for a pleasant surprise.

This is a great example of what a plain black tea should taste like. Smooth and bold with a bit of sweetness thrown in.

You can purchase the Rani STGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Assam directly from the Lochan Tea website.

Due to user error, my first experimental pot of Lochan’s Harmutty Golden Paw was a declawed version of what a good Assam should be. At a scant teaspoon per cup and 3:45 brewing time (what I thought was a fair middle range), it was a beautiful amber in the cup, but I couldn’t coax much flavor out of it. It just tasted light and tea-ish.

When I got distracted—a routine occurrence on busy Saturdays—and left the rest of the pot for more than an hour, the color began to darken. Once that happened, some sweet, nutty notes began to emerge—prompting visions of and a craving for my Aunt Nancy’s legendary pecan pie. The full pot’s worth of leaves, double strength in a single cup, made a great glass of iced tea in the afternoon.

Evidently, this tea is not intended to be treated like a pampered pussycat. Even though the leaves are light and fluffy, they need strength (a heaping teaspoon per cup and then some) and time (minimum five minutes). When you give Harmutty Golden Paw a lion’s share of care and attention, you’ll get a smooth, light, slightly sweet, highly enjoyable tea.

I received this tea from a friend and had only HEARD about it prior.  Because I LOVE the fact Frank from 52 Teas ‘thinks outside the box…or in this case, the bag”…I like to try as many blends of his that I can.  The rarer and more crazy – the better!  It’s the perfect example of TEA MAKES A GOOD STORY!  And…I’m just crazy enough to TRY it!

When I was scrolling thru the reviews on Steepster I noticed everyone seemed to like it.  Then it happened…2 low, low, low reviews. It didn’t scare me! So…I YELLED…”Bring it on!!!”…and so I did.

I LOVE Frank’s write-ups and product descriptions!  One thing that made me laugh while reading the their description about this tea was the butter flavoring!  I was like…”OH MY GOSH…I’m going to drink butter?” I really didn’t stumble on the thought for too long as I was really excited about trying the blend.

It smelled like Cinnamon Raisin Toast.  Mission Accomplish, there, I guess.  I was unable to smell the butter BUT…I don’t slap on much butter on my toast anyhow…so…maybe this will be tailor-made for me!?

YUP! I could taste the black tea, the toast, the cinnamon, and the raisin. It was hard to taste the butter but just as it started to travel down my esophagus I could taste a hint of it…but just a hint!

The more I drink this – the more I can taste the toast as an after taste.  Normally I don’t like funky aftertastes but this works…especially in the morning when you are hungry for toast or a bagel or something and don’t have access to it!

This is a neat little creation that 52 Teas has available and I appreciate the fact that it’s different and unusual. It’s surprisingly good and I’m glad I could still taste the black tea.  Too many times when doing a flavored black tea…the black tea taste is often lost.  Not in this tea…it’s still, thankfully, present.

You can purchase the Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast Flavored Black Tea directly from the 52teas website.

These leaves are beautiful. I was surprised at how large the coconut shavings were. These were no ordinary shavings used in baking coconut, no not in this tea! This tea brewed up a beautiful lemon lime green. The aroma is very coconutty with a bit of citrus sneaking in as well. It reminds me of Harney and Sons Bangkok Green tea (minus the ginger). There is almost a buttery note to the scent as well.

As far as the taste goes, it is a lightly flavored, buttery green tea. I taste the bright, citrusy lime in the forefront, then the buttery green base with a hint of coconut at the end. The coconut is very strong in scent and as I sip it I get more from the scent of the coconut than the taste of the coconut. Does coconut make the tea taste buttery and smooth, or is that the actual tea itself? This texture I’m tasting was similar in the Harney and Sons tea mentioned above, which also had coconut in it. I do like how smooth this blend is. Nothing stands out too sharply. I really enjoy the lime flavor in this tea. It doesn’t overpower the green tea, but blends with it rather nicely. I’m glad to have enjoyed a mug full of this.

You can purchase the Lime in the Coconut directly from the California Tea House website.