Today I continued to plow through the sample packets of What-Cha’s Georgian black teas that I managed to acquire over the course of the past year. I started on this one last night and finished it up this afternoon. Compared to the Natela’s Gold Standard and Mr. Ramiz’s Hand-Made Black Tea, this one displayed a simpler character in the mouth with a pronounced toasty, fruity finish.
I prepared this tea Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.
Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted strong aromas of raisin and prune underscored by a hint of malt. After infusion, the dried fruit aromas were balanced by aromas of malt, toast, cream, and a hint of mild spice. In the mouth, I picked up smoothly integrated notes of malt, cream, and toast underscored by touches of raisin, cherry, fig, almond, and nutmeg. Oddly, the expected prune note was missing. The finish was long and mellow, presenting a lovely and harmonious blend of fig, raisin, toast, cream, and malt.
Lighter in flavor than the previous two Georgian black teas I have reviewed, yet with an unexpectedly strong, integrated finish that more than made up for the tea’s initial timidity, this tea shared more than enough strengths with the other two to justify a similarly high rating. I just could not find much to fault with this one. If you were a fan of either of the other two Georgian black teas mentioned above, there is a very good chance that you will also enjoy this one.
Flavors: Almond, Cherry, Cream, Fig, Malt, Nutmeg, Raisins, Toast
