The third and final Kangra black tea offering from Teabox that I recently sampled, I found this to be the greenest and most vegetal of the lot. Oddly, I liked it somewhat more than the similar Raipur Classic Spring Black Tea. Perhaps my palate has adjusted to these unique black teas.
I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.
Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of fresh kale, spinach, and collard greens accompanied by subtler scents of hay, tree bark, fern fronds, and nuts. After infusion, I picked up a slightly stronger nut aroma as well as an emerging herbal aroma. In the mouth, I found surprisingly delicate, yet complex and well-layered notes of damp grass, cooked greens, hay, herbs, earth, wet stones, moss, tree bark, wood, and cucumber balanced by hints of minerals, malt, and roasted nuts. The finish was smooth, yet fleeting, briefly offering lingering impressions of herbs, cooked greens, and wood.
For me, this was like the greenest black tea ever, but I really liked it for whatever reason. I cannot explain why, but it was a very satisfying tea for me. That most likely had something to do with the fact that it was so oddly vegetal and woody that it stood apart from just about every other black tea I have tried to this point. While it had a few things in common with the Wah and Raipur Estate black teas I tried recently, I still would not mistake it for either of those two. This was just an exceptionally unique tea. If you, like me, do not mind the idea of a black tea being almost as vegetal as a green tea, then you may very well enjoy this one.
Flavors: Bark, Cucumber, Earth, Grass, Hay, Herbs, Kale, Malt, Mineral, Moss, Roasted Nuts, Spinach, Vegetal, Wet Rocks, Wood
