Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Malt’

East India Tea Company’s Director’s Blend came in a very attractive lavender tea tin with the picture of East India House on the front. The East India Tea Company held auctions in London, a grand tradition that lasted 300 years and controlled the monopoly for the import of tea and other goods from the Indies. The auctions were held at East India House and tea was sold “by the candle” – wherein a candle was lit at the beginning of the sale of each lot, and when an inch of the candle had burnt away, the hammer fell and the sale was ended rather than allowing the bidding to go on for an unlimited length of time.

I was excited to taste this tea as a “director’s blend” usually means higher quality tea. Director’s blends are the tea held back by the tea company for in-house use, saved for the directors and shareholders. This is why they are the best teas to drink.

As this is a director’s blend I wanted to get a true, thorough analysis of it. I originally was just going to review it as a tea drinker, therefore using steep time, temperature, and tea amounts as a tea drinker would. However I did not think this “tea drinker” review did it justice so I also reviewed the tea as a professional tea taster would. A professional tea tasting prepares a typically more concentrated tea, the flaws and qualities of the teas come to the forefront a lot easier and we can get a truer picture of the qualities and characteristics of the tea. This is also the case when milk is added for colour analysis.

Dried leaf of this blend shows orthodox, mixed with very little CTC, good roll and tippiness. The smell of the dried leaf is of malt, and this malty aroma becomes more intense once the leaves are steeped. Where I work, we would make blends for our own consumption using the same components as this director’s blend – Sri Lankan tea for its fragrant taste and aroma, Assam tea for the maltiness and body, and Kenyan tea for the strength. This is the traditional way of making black tea.

Review using a “tea drinker’s” steeping methodology, time and amounts:

This steeps to a very bright, beautiful dark orange to amber clear infusion. Interestingly enough the colour doesn’t carry through with milk added. The milk solution was a light brown, whitish, no reddish colour.

It is not very heavy or full in the mouth, rather it is a little light, could use a little more body. If this was an Assam CTC blend it would have more body rather than an Assam Orthodox. But then again you would not see CTC mixed with Orthodox on the market; it is just that this is a director’s blend so they can put in whatever they want, especially since this is a loose tea. There is some Kenyan CTC in it. At work we also drink our black tea loose mixing Assam Orthodox with Ceylon CTC and Kenyan CTC.

The “tea drinker’s” director’s blend is not very strong after a 3 minute infusion using 13 grams of teas and 1.7L of water. But it is very flavourful. I suspect there is a first flush assam in it on account of the peppery-ness, a high-grown Ceylon which gives it its flavourfulness, and if it weren’t for the description of the blend on the back I would not have guessed that there were Kenyan teas in it just by tasting it.

As it was not very strong, I let the tea steep an extra 2 minutes and now the tea is a bright amber colour and has a golden rim around the teas which was not present before.

Taste is stronger as would be expected but was not bitter even with more extended steeping. I think a four minute total steep would be ideal. I like to steep my black tea longer (maybe even 8 minutes) but I don’t drink it black. I just like the strength to go with the milk I add as it gives a little oomph to this light bodied tea. After I added milk to the 8 minute steep, it tasted interestingly like Hong Kong style milk tea (also known as pantyhose tea “si mut nai cha). Hong Kong style milk tea is usually Ceylon black blend with condensed milk.

Review using a professional tea tasting methodology, time, and amounts

For the professional tea tasting, using a scale I measured out 2.1 grams of tea and steeped it with 150ml of boiling water for 5 minutes. It is malty. From the cupping I found that the tea was a lot stronger, brisk and bold, and had more fullness than in the previous tasting. This tells me that the tea is actually a second flush, not a first flush Assam. Second flush Assam is the best Assam. There should also be high grown Ceylon in it because it is very flavourful and once again I would not have guessed that there was any Kenyan tea so the amount they used was probably not substantial. Steeped infusion is a lot redder than in the previous tasting. With milk added the reddish colour once again becomes more apparent in this tasting than the previous.

Overall as the true qualities of this tea show up in the professional tasting, I think this tea is excellent and of high quality. It is like an English Breakfast but really can be taken anytime of the day. It is fitting that this tea is a director’s blend.

You can purchase the Directors Blend directly from the The East India Company website.

The dry leaves of this tea are very thin, medium in length, and consist of both dark and golden hay colored leaves. The scent of the dry leaf is very earthy with only a slight hint of malt. When brewed, this tea is very red in color for a black tea and has an intensified earthy characteristic.

When taken plain, this tea is very astringent and a tad bitter. After adding milk and sugar, the bitterness is gone but the tea still has a bit of a sharp bite. This isn’t good or bad, but I can see how it may be too much for some people to stand. I was hoping the malty aspect would be more pronounced, but this tea is geared towards those that love the earthy flavors. As it cools, a slight sweetness begins to develop but the sharpness is still the most noticeable feature of this tea for me.

Overall, this is a good, strong black tea but I like for the malty flavors to be big and bold in my tea. The sharp bite of the tea is also preventing this from becoming my favorite Assam.

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

Noticing that the last tea I drank that had “Mao Feng” in the title was a green tea, this made me curious, so I first went and looked up what “Mao Feng” meant. According to the “wonderful source of all knowledge,” Wikipedia, Mao Feng “is a term in tea manufacture denoting the picking of a bud and two leaves of equal length.” It goes on to tell about their broad, curved shape and the desirability of this design.

Dry, these leaves are long, thin, and wiry. The aroma is mild and a bit malty. After steeping for the recommended time, the aroma really opens up, revealing delicious smelling honey tones.

Taking my first sip, the flavour explodes across my tongue, drenching it in much the same flavours as were smelled in the completed liquor: a bit of a malt, with sweet, dark honey tastes.

What seems to be a simple tea actually contains a myriad of experiences for the senses, all coming together to make this a nice tea experience and a delight to drink. I rate it a 75 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Hong Tao Mao Feng directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

These are some of the most beautiful leaves I’ve ever seen with a black tea. Usually black teas are all short pieces, small and fairly boring looking. This tea has long, twisty leaves with the occasional silver highlight. And the aroma.. oh it will take your breath away. Sweet, malty, and exotic with hints of dark chocolate.

These elements come across in the flavor as well. For an unflavored tea, its got a lot going on. And, it has a lot going on while being one of the lightest black teas I’ve ever had. There’s hints of malt, the chocolate, and some other dark flavors that all blend together and in the melding end up quite light, almost refreshing.

This is a must-try tea – even for those who are unmoved by black teas. This may be your gateway drug tea. (Come to the dark side – we have cream and sugar!)

You can purchase the Dawn directly from the The Simple Leaf website.