India Assam

This is my third tasting note, and my second tub of this tea.

I was at the market again the other day picking up shrimp, green curry, and some miscellaneous produce when I realized I needed some kind of plain black tea to make sweet tea from. Since this stuff is under $3 a tub, I figured I could have my loose leaf fix and be cheap at the same time. (Sweet tea is just fodder for myself and whoever’s over anyway.) Made a 2 quart pitcher from 9 teaspoons and added sugar. The pitcher was empty by the end of the night.

This a pleasant Assam. The packages I have bought are marked organic. I have bought it several times, and the flavor and quality have been consistent.

This is not a complex tea. It is smooth, hint of maltiness, a lovely dark, rich taste. Takes milk very well. Would be pleasant mixed with another smooth, more complex tea.

I really enjoy this one. Has a bit of a splurge taste, a thickness that I find very nice.

If I remember correctly it was $9.50 per pound, plus taxes.

I use two rounded teaspoons of tea for just under four cups of filtered, purified water. Water is boiled in stainless steel over gas flame. Steeping time: 4:30. It might hold up to a tad longer steeping time.

To me, this one is good enough to give as a present, if the other person knows it is a daily, or almost daily tea, not an extraordinary tea. It is very nice to have an inexpensive Assam available at a place where one buys the weekly groceries. (I wouldn’t drive across town merely for the tea.)

ETA on August 26, 2011: This tea leaves a residue, not only in the teapot and tea cups, but on my teeth. As nice as it is to drink, I have stopped drinking it, because it is so hard to clean the tea stains off my teeth.