Assam Exotic Second Flush Black Tea

While this doesn’t brew up bitter, all the assamness (awesomeness) is smoothed away from this tea. No malt, no coppery tang, no astringency. Kinda boring. I’ll mix it with something to sip it down it’s at least good for some caffiene.

Another off of the local Buy Nothing Site because the gifter did not enjoy it. I notice that the packaging appears to be different than their current packaging, so I’m unsure of the age of the tea. It was unopened and didn’t appear to be off so I went forward with a cup this morning. As per usual, I took my tea without adding sugars or milk for my tasting.

I found the tea to be malty with a slight bitterness at the end. I’m not a huge fan of malt in general, so that definitely plays into this review. It reminded me of the tea that I get at our local Chinese food restaurant. That’s not a bad thing! Now it’s been a few years since I’ve gone to that restaurant, so I could be mistaken.

I think this is a good serviceable tea and plan to keep it in my cabinet until I finish off the package. I probably will use it for some end of summer iced teas. I noted that their website’s reviews often speak of making Hong Kong style milk tea with it. I may try my hand that that.

Adventaggedon Day 9 – Tea 6/6

I’m having a moment where it’s like my brain is just stalling out…

The dry leaf of this tea was perplexing to me because it looks like a nice, straight Assam with lots of gold tips throughout but the aroma definitely has a mild spice to it. I think that’s just scent contamination from the box/tin that aren’t airtight – because the tea didn’t really taste spiced steeped. What did it taste like!?

Uhh… It was good. I was at maximum memory retention for the day though, so I definitely do not remember specifics. Thankfully, I have a mostly full mini tin to explore at a future date to help answer that question when I feel like I have more bandwidth!

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIl-_dtAlPw/

I love Japanese milk tea, and I was craving one tonight, so I thought I would try to recreate it at home. I wasn’t sure what type of black tea to use, but ended up deciding on Assam because it has a more assertive flavor and is commonly drunk with milk anyway!

I used about a tablespoon of tea and steeped it in 4 ounces of hot water for 3 minutes. Then I strained it over a little bit of ice and added 8 ounces of whole milk. I finished it off with a tablespoon of vanilla syrup for sweetness.

It actually came out really good! It’s creamy and sweet but I can still taste the Assam underneath. I think next time I’ll experiment with using more tea, or perhaps adding more water and less milk.

But for a first attempt, I’m really happy with it! :)

This is the last one of my Vahdam tea samples, I’ll look into other teas at some point which I’m looking forward to

It’s strong and bitter, maybe a bit too bitter but still enjoyable.

The tea is very strong and has malty and sweet characteristics. The sweet tones are somewhat overpowered by the bitterness of the tea. The bitterness for me is not very pleasant because it lingers for too long in your mouth.

Not one of Vahdam’s best Assam teas, but you can’t win them all ;-)

The best iced tea I have ever made! Very smooth and malty with a sugarcane finish, if this wasn’t so much more expensive than their regular assam I would make iced tea out of this every day.

This is a brilliant tea for people who like a strong cuppa. I have this with or without milk, depending on my mood. Love it!