Curious Tea has a new tea subscription box out of the UK. I was lucky enough to receive one for review! The box seemed like an adventure from the beginning, just from the stamps on the outside. Inside, the largest tea pouches I’ve ever seen. It seems like SO much tea (it’s 50 grams of each tea… the resealable envelopes are so big but flat.. I wish all of my teas were in pouches like these. I envision filing them by types of tea in a nice cold filing cabinet!) There is plenty of info located both within the package but also on the website. All the info you’ll need! The teas included in the boxes have all seemed like teas I would enjoy, so it would be tough for me to choose: the dark, light, or mixed options (the mixed option is one tea from the light, one tea from the dark). With each choice, Curious Tea will send 50grams of two teas each month. Just an idea for Curious Tea: it would also be interesting if Curious Tea would send you 25grams each of all FOUR teas, for those of us who are up for trying any tea.. those the most curious!
On to the teas….
The Assam Doomni Special Second Flush is delicious – a brisk assam, while somehow not turning into the tomato soup flavor assam has been tasting like lately. I love the hints of gold in the twisty dark leaves. A teaspoon for a 12 ounce mug is tough enough with a three minute steep. I also tried another cup with a teaspoon and a half or two and it just didn’t work (a little too astringent). But use a teaspoon and it’s great stuff! The dark cup is malty with hints of dried grass. The second cup mellow out and sweetens a bit, loosing a bit of the “rustiness” to the flavor – the only way I can describe it but it’s good! I always need a great assam in stock but hopefully the next tea is as special as I think it will be…
The Jun Chiyabari First Flush is like a light Darjeeling, very sweet and fruity. Not as complex as the other Jun Chiyabari I’ve tried, but that was setting a high bar as one of the best teas I’ve ever tried. (It also might matter that the other was a Second Flush and I seem to like those better than First Flushes.) I tried steeping this one a couple ways, these parameters being a little too astringent: 2 tsps. // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep. A two minute steep might have been fine, but the three was a little too much. Lowering the teaspoons to a teaspoon or 1 1/2 might help too. It was a very enjoyable flavor though.
Overall, the experience of this subscription box was a great one and definitely one to consider!
CuriousTea.com
