Leaves of Cha

I can’t seem to get a handle on this tea. Brewed with boiling water, it was strong and smoky; with cooler water, it came out light and maple-flavored. Either way, I enjoyed it as a morning treat with a dash of oat milk. The overall impression is kind of like English Breakfast with more complexity.

Much more like a typical black tea than Leaves of Cha’s other purple offerings. The leaves smell very smoky but the roast doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the tea at all. There’s a nice strong malty base note that makes it clear this is an assamica varietal, but balanced by fruity overtones.

This tea brews up a beautiful red color with a nice thick texture, but the flavor is disappointingly one-note, overwhelmingly earthy without much else going on. It’s certainly not bad, but at this price point, there’s much more interesting shou available.

The coiled dry leaves are very pretty and incredibly soft, like curls of fur, and would be a very visually impressive tea to serve to a visitor. Wet leaves smell like a barbecue, preparing me for a strong-flavored tea. The taste is similar, savory and smoky with a slight aftertaste of sweetness, like a good beef jerky. This tea could stand up to a meal accompaniment, I’m tempted to try it as an after-dinner dessert alongside grilled pineapple. A nice but not overwhelming pick-me-up, but could be too smoky for those who prefer more delicate black teas.

What a surprising tea. The leaves are almost black with a hint of blue, like very ripe blackberries, with a sweet and smoky aroma. Based on this I was expecting something more like a black tea. Instead the first infusion had me thinking of seawater and trees in spring. But those more oxidized flavors of fruit and wood are in there too, later on. The liquid is a dark orange, with a light texture. I’m curious if this unusual flavor combination is typical of purple teas – I have a roasted purple from the same order I’m looking forward to trying now.

Starts off with a surprisingly intense marine flavor of kelp and seawater, later steeps are more sweet and less salty. Handles boiling water well.

Picked this up at the Southwest Tea Fest this past weekend after trying it iced. It was ridic good cold. Hot, it’s good but not as mind blowing. I’ll have no trouble getting through it either way but it may not be anything I keep over other Assams.

It’s malty, thick and mildly sweet. Have it cold and some brighter notes come out along with a more pronounced honeylike sweetness.

Dark with that touch of acrid charcoal-black-burnt brown but it is way deep down into back of mouth and throat.

It has a medium level astringency that spreads across the entire top of tonue.

There’s a bitter, sort of rotting wet winter leaves, flavor that fills the mouth with it. While at the same time it has a lighter sweetness tending towards a malty feel and taste but not going there… just a hint that it could, but doesn’t. If that makes any sense.

That lighter sweetness starts during the sip in the back of the throat but higher up, just above, the dark acrid bit I spoke of. Then in the finish it moves to the upper half of the mouth with strongest at middle between front and back of the roof.

Id gives a deep and round impression. Fills the mouth, hitting multiple areas with the sensation of flavor. Causes production of a little extra saliva to pool at where the teeth and tongue meet in front, but not a dryness strong enough in mouth for such production from astringency level or style. Just an odd little texture and reaction note there.

As it cools a pink, a soft flower petal pink, takes up the place of the sweetness before and holds on with whites and pinks of light flowers into the cooler tea’s finish.

Hot ranging down to cool as I drink my cup the finish on it is very quite long and it is a tea that makes you want to take gulps almost from the way it leaves your mouth.

I bought this on a whim, being lured to the Leaves of Cha site by their post on the name and discount code in memory of Prince. I then found myself excited by the site in general’s mix of teas I was familiar with and more that I wasn’t combined with their very thorough info on their tea pages. Ended up grabbing a few things new to me.

I’d say this one was definitely for me and I’d recommend it.