Borsapori Estate Assam TGFOP1 (SPL)

Oh my dog, this tea is special. Thank you Dexter3657 for sharing some with me—this is riiiiight up my alley!

The dry leaf smell is wonderful, an intense chocolate aroma. The tea brews up fairly dark and thick, and the taste is deep and unusual; I get loamy soil notes and almost mushroom. Something rich and wet earthy like that. There’s a slight bitterness but also a spicy sweetness to balance it. This kind of reminds me a bit of the complexity of an intense shu pu erh, but less complicated to worry about steeping correctly (easy as pie, Western style 3 min even and hot works very well, much like Laoshan Black) and no possibility of funky aroma, quite the contrary. I love it! Definite winner; I’m thinking it might be the best Assam I’ve ever had. It would make an awesome morning tea on special days you want to spoil your taste buds first thing out of bed. Its complexity and strength remind me a bit of Butiki’s The Black Lotus, crossed with yeah, a sweet, intense pu erh. Great googly moogly it’s good! I would place an order with Capital now just to get more of this for sure.

ETA: yyz who as always is way ahead of me here is spot on about resteeps being lighter and less chocolate-spicy but amping up a honey note. Yum!

Borsapori Estate has a sustainable farm certification given by a
subsidiary of the Rainforest Alliance, which means that it meets
certain standards with regards to fair and ethical treatment of its
workers and he surrounding community, does not employ child labour, and
has introduced several standards with regards to environmental and
wildlife proection, conservation and sustainable agricultural practices. For more information see here:

http://sustaiablefarmcert.com/?page_id=172
http://sustainablefarmcert.com/?page_id=23&idD=1471
http://www.sanstandards.org/sitio/sections/display/2

The dry tea leaves are quite pretty with silvery dark grey brown with a
lot of golden tips that smell of chocolate and raisins. It brews to a
beautifully clear rosewood colour, and smells of milk chocolate and
spice (cinnamon) with a floral note. The tea tastes of bitter sweet
and milk chocolates. It is a smooth tea with little to no astringency.
The tea also has a powdery floral note and a hint of cinnamon and
sandalwood. This Assam has a strong flavour without the astringency,
and leaves afreshening feeling towards the back of the mouth. The tea
develops a faint fruity note such as ripe plum as it cools sweetening
the tea a little, however chocolate remains the dominant note. The
aftertaste is of milk chocolate with a slightly bitter note, and a
cinnamon floral.

The second steep is a little bit more fruity with the chocolate, floral spice remaining dominant. It is quite a nice tea and is robust enough that It will hold up well to milk. I however pretty well always take my tea black.

After finishing the dishes, I wanted to just sit with a cup of tea, and being unsure of what to choose, I reached into my drawer and pulled out the last bit of this from ifjuly. My choice was perfect, as this tea definitely gives you the chance to just sit and enjoy it.
I looked at the dark sky to the north (the sky always looks the best in winter towards the lake…), and took in the chocolate notes of this quite special Assam.
Earthy and sweet…so smooth and not at all bitter.
Halfway through the cup, the bite was building in the aftertaste, but it’s really more of a nip than a bite, as this tea is never overwhelming.
Truly delicious Assam, with the second steep still being smooth and wonderful.
So glad I picked this out for today. : )

This is one of the many surprise teas that Sil sent me, buried in a box full of tins from Davids as a silly birthday present (which I love!)

I’m drinking this so I don’t have to add it to my cupboard. I have a lot to add. I’ve had a few people visit me this week and they all brought tea! YAY!

So this is a really nice black tea. I really am going to have to try Capital Teas at some point, once I make a bit of a dent in my unflavoured black collection! I’m tasting an interesting spice but it’s hard to describe what it is. Malt? Cinnamon? Nutmeg? I should resteep it for longer to see if I can tease those chocolate notes out!

Thanks Sil!

thanks again to YYZ for sending this one my way. this is a really interesting tea for me. I don’t get much in the way of chocolate notes, but i am getting a slight hint of malt with a bit of spiciness?? to it. i’m guessing that’s what YYZ describes as cinnamon/sandalwood. I actually am enjoying this because of it’s unique taste. it’s similar to other teas that i’ve had but slightly different. Just a good time :) thanks YYZ!