Black Tea Veviews
doug smith
Well sort of. I received a bunch of interesting black teas recently, so I thought I would
write up tasting notes on each of them. These were each brewwed in a 2 cup chattsford
pot. The brewwing was done in the british style, with heating the pot first and only using
freshly boiled water. The water was filtered using a brita water filter. I have tried to keep
the steeping time constant to 4 min for each tea. The teas were each tasted black with no
milk or sugar, or (shudder) lemon.
Jungpana 2nd Flush, Darjeeling, The House of Tea, $18.00 per 1/4 pound
The dried leaf looks very tippy. Lots of greens and golden yellows mixed in with the black
leaf. Brewwed leaf is a consistant golden brown. The leaves are rather large and
broken,and there are some twigs. The tea brews up to a dark brown color. The nose of
the tea is simple roasted tea flavor. In the mouth this tea is very complex. There is mostly
a strong roasted tea taste, with a heathy amount of astringency. After that comes a lot of
fruity tones, oranges and grapes. Slight mintyness on the finish, and a stong coppery
brightness. A very good tea for its complexity of flavors and balance.
Namring, Darjeeling, Line-Z #526, The House of Tea, $22.50 per 1/4 pound
The dried leaf has a tight curl with light tips showing. The scent is very rich, and fruity
with lots of flowery tones. The brewwed leaf is brown with lots of greenish hues. The
leaf size is consistantly small, with full crushed leaves. The stem content is very low. The
tea brews to light golden color. The nose is light with hints of grape and orange. In the
mouth this is a great tea. Lots of roasted tea taste, big fruity tones of grapes and oranges.
It has a white wine like character with a large astringent back bone. This all fades to a
lingering mintyness with a coppery brightness. This is the best black tea I have ever had.
Lopchu, Darjeeling, The House of Tea, $15.00 per 1/4 pound
Dried leaf has many golden tips, with also highlights of green and white tips. The smell is
wonderfully complex. The brewwed leaves are small and slightly broken, with a green
brown color. There seems to be a small twig content. The tea brews to a light golden
brown color. Not much in the nose, but a light roasted grain smell. The taste is very
bright and acidic, with a huge back bone of atringency. Roasted tea taste, which then fades
to a light flowery character. A little week on the finish, just a memory of the previous
astringency. Good tea over all, would go well with light foods.
Seeyok Estate, 2nd Flush, Darjeeling, UptonÕs Teas, $12.80 / 125 gm.
The dried leaf is mostly black with highlights of green and golden tips. The smell is very
perfumy, but also that of dried grass or hay. The brewwed leaf is medium size with a low
twig content, and is light green-brown in color. The tea is a light golden brown. The smell
is that of roasted grains. The taste is very astringent, and slightly tannic, with a good
roasted flavor. There is a coppery brightness which fades to a minty quality. The after
taste is of roasted grains. A good mellow tea.
Phuguri Estate 2nd Flush, Darjeeling, UptonÕs teas, $12.50 / 125 gm.
The dry leaf is of medium size with lots of white-green tips. The smell has a floral quality.
When brewwed the leaf is medium to small, fully crushed with a small stem content. The
color of the brewwed leaf is green-gold. The tea is a light golden color, with a flowery,
purfumy nose. In the mouth the tea shows lot of astrigency with good roasted tea taste and
mellow tannins. There is a slight muscat grapiness which fades to a nice strong mintyness.
A good mellow and subtle tea, very light and flowery.
American Classic Tea, First Flush Exceptional Quality Large Leaf, $11.00 a 1/2 pound.
This tea has a big name, unfortunately it doesn't have a big taste. I have always had a soft
spot in my heart for these guys. All alone down in South Carolina they try and make the
only tea grown in these United States. Unfortunately this tea will never compete with any
other place. The exsistance of a new exceptional quality leaf gave me hopes for a better tea.
Again I was let down. This tea is very average, and for the most part very week in the
mouth. The dried leaf is very dark brown, with slight golden highlights. It turns out the
golden highlights are stems. It has a high stem content. The smell is that of dried hay and
dried leaves. The taste is weak tea, with slightly roasted grains. There is only a slight nose
of dried grass. Overall this is an average tea, not great.