Indonesian Gold

I wish this tea was still readily available. Just used the last of my stock a few months back. Now I’m on the hunt for a toasted oaty black tea that compares.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 10

I was basic sleepwalking when I brewed my morning cup of tea today, but this was a lovely cup to wake up to. Rich and full-bodied with an intense, almost chocolatey flavor and no bitterness or astringency.

I couldn’t quite believe my eyes looking at the DFW terminal map: is there an actual tea shop in here? I could still taste the wood chips from the ‘tea’ I picked up at a coffee place in AUS. Anyway, aren’t they closing? Sure enough the store was still there. I needed my head to be operational when I got off the plane in SFO so I wanted to order some black tea. I tried get my eyes to focus despite a cold and days of committee meetings. Somehow I managed to order a cup. Hmm… I’m picking up notes of… CAFFIENE! That’s what I needed: thick, almost sour and full of caffiene. I got off the plane with my head still swimming but I found the Lyft and made it home. Thanks, Teavanna.

This is a delicious, full-bodied black tea! I love the dark, sweet body and the slight salted note I get towards the end. I find myself reaching for this over many of my other black teas due to the fullness and the gentle, natural sweetness of the flavour.

I enjoyed this so much yesterday that I decided to have it again today. Only one cup left. Having it with a chocolate croissant that’s so good I’m going weak in the knees over it.

This was an excellent black tea which would be good any time of the day.

The dried leaves are attractive—small and curled well. They are dark—darker than most Assam teas I’ve had, but not as dark as the Kenilworth Ceylon that I have been enjoying recently. And this is what I was expecting the tea to be—something more like the Kenilworth Ceylon, with its dark liquor and strong flavors.

I brewed 9 grams of this tea for four minutes using 20 ounces of nearly boiling water. When the four minutes were done, I was worried because the liquor was much lighter than I expected it to be. It had the color of clover honey—goldish-brown but not nearly as dark as I expected. I was worried I didn’t use enough dried leaves.

The first flavors I noticed are honey and toast, with the honey flavor definitely being the strongest. There is a slight maltiness to it, but it is more toasty than malty. There is no astringency to it at all. The honey ends with a slightly different caramel or sugary flavor. It isn’t a heavy tea, like many of the Assam teas I normally have in the morning, but that would make this tea very good for any time of the day. This is definitely not similar to a breakfast blend or a pure Assam.

Overall, I am very happy with this tea and will add it to my regular rotation, I think. The caffeine level makes it good to start the day and the flavors are appealing. I might add another gram or two when I make it in the morning, but 9 grams for 20 ounces of water is a good amount for later in the day, since that ensures it isn’t too heavy.

I generally stay away from Teavana, especially since they were purchased by Starbucks. However, last night I began an internet search for Indonesian black teas, as for the past few years I’ve been trying to find (or remember) such a tea that I purchased from a now-defunct tea company, and I think the tea came from Sumatra but it could have come from Java (this is one of the best reasons to use Steepster – to remember what you drink!). It was robust without being acidic, malty, and delicious. My internet search showed this tea at Teavana, so I signed up for their email program to get a $10-off coupon and made my way to the mall today to check it out. This tea is very similar to the one I recall – smooth, robust, and malty. I’m on my second cup and definitely feeling the caffeine.

I stayed away from Teavana tea purchases for a good while, not because they don’t have great tea products, but because I always found them to be a bit pricey. However, that didn’t stop me from browsing through their stores every time I was in a mall.

Yesterday, the very astute young lady sales associate knew exactly what buttons to push to get me to pull my wallet out once again. She touted this one as a robust, bold flavored, and, most important, reasonably priced, black tea. It also smelled great as she waved the wide tin lid under my nose. I long ago learned to fight the hypnotic powers that command you to spend your money when they do this. But yesterday I succumbed to the spell. I’m just glad she didn’t make me bark like a dog or strut like a chicken.

The long black leaves of this tea looked fresh and rich. The unbrewed aroma was interestingly unique for a black tea. I could smell citrus but it wasn’t bergamot or lemon. The closet entity that came to my mind was tangerine.

I steeped the leaves for four minutes at 205 degrees. Teavana recommended three minutes at that temperature but my personal rule of thumb is to never brew a black tea for less than four minutes if you really want to pull bold flavor from it.

Both the steeped color and odor were unique for a black tea. The hue was a bright gold which made me wonder if I should have steeped it for another two or three minutes. The aroma was slightly citrus and sweet, with an accent like a bowl of Frosted Wheat Chex with caramel lightly drizzled on it.

The flavor was quite smooth. It was not robust or bold but it didn’t register as empty on my palate either. The taste, again, was slight fruity, sweet, and grain-like. This time I couldn’t make up my mind if I was tasting wheat or corn. The flavors harmonized well and nothing seemed odd or out of place – just unique. There was no astringency and no annoying attributes remained in the after taste.

Another reason I purchased this tea is I was told it had a high caffeine level. That characteristic is required in all of my morning teas to jump start my metabolism. I didn’t notice any major jolt from the tea but I was sufficiently alert for early in the morning.

All in all, I would classify this as a very pleasant tea. The flavor is not strong, but adequate. The smoothness makes it easy to quickly down a full pot (which I did). If drinking a beverage with a nice, but hard to identify, flavor doesn’t irritate you, Teavana’s Indonesian Gold is definitely worth a trial run!

I bought this tea, loved it and then stuck it in my cupboard and forgot about it till now.

It’s still wonderful. Fairly light, not at all astringent, and brown sugar and squash notes dominant in both the fragrance and the taste. The brown sugar peaks mid sip and fades out in the finish to a malty flavour which pairs well with the squash note.

Bought this on sale at Teavana.com last week. It is fairly tasty but not spectacular. It’s main note is malt as well as something else that I’m not sure what it is, a positive note. This falls into the category of tea good enough to finish but not good enough to buy more. It is fairly tasty but not in any way spectacular.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.