27 Tasting Notes
As with all Chai teas, the smell of the leaves and the tea itself is very strong. It has an especially pronounced scent of clove, which isn’t a bad thing. The tea is black tea in the blend is CTC, towards which i have a bias of being too “industrial”, but…
This Chai tea is truly epic. It has a very nice and full taste. You can very clearly taste the cloves as well as the cardamom. The cinnamon kicks in at the end of the sip and the pepper gives it the well needed kick and delivers a little tingling sensation in the mouth.
The black tea itself has no bitterness, resulting in the fact that the flavours that matter are even more pronounced, but never overpower eachother.
I drank the july 2017 tea.
Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Pepper, Sweet
Preparation
Very smooth and pleasant tea to drink. It has a distinct taste of honey througout. It also has the malty Assam flavour in the back of the pallette, but the honey is more pronounced. When sipping, the tea gives you a small kick of bitterness, but this is quickly overpowered by its sweetness. Very nice tea. The Daily Assam is very close in flavour however, and that one is a factor 3 cheaper.
My tea was the second flush picked in june 2017.
Flavors: Honey, Malt
Preparation
The tea i tasted was the July 2017 second flush of the Vahdam Daily Assam. The tea has a nice, dark-brown colour and a very mild (almost abcent).
The tea tastes very nice. It has a pronounced malty Assam taste with a bit of sweetness. The sweetness reminds me a bit of honey. The tea has an ever so slight hint of bitterness, which gives a nice balance to the sweetness. Very nice black tea for everyday use!
Flavors: Honey, Malt
Preparation
Oh my, this tea….
It starts with the long, partially golden, unbroken leaves. After brewing, the tea has a very nice, dark brown chestnut-like colour. It smells sweet, with a hint of honey. The scent is very interesting, as it does not reflect the taste of the tea 1 on 1.
The tea has a very recognisable flavour profile. It’s sweet and malty at the same time. The maltyness is followed by a wooden tone. It also has a fruity, grape-like flavour at the end of the sip. Despite steeping it for a normal to long period, it has no bitterness whatsoever. One of my favorite China black teas for daily use. Strongly reccommended!
Flavors: Dark Wood, Floral, Grapes, Honey, Malt
Preparation
The dry leaves have a very intoxicating sweet jasmine (floral) scent. Very nice. The leaves are also nice and small and unbroken. After steeping, the floral scent is transferred to the tea.
The tea smells and looks extreme pleasant. It also tastes very fresh and of course very jasmine-like, but not too overwhelming. This seems to be the ultimate jasmine tea, until….. you start to taste a very strange flavour after 2 to 3 seconds after sipping. It is comparable to a bitterness, but it tastes more chemical-like which then develops into a bitterness. It’s not easy to pinpoint what it is exactly, but it keeps hanging in the back of your mouth. This really is a shame for this otherwise really good tea.
This hint of chemical taste is gone with the second steep, but unfortunately; so is the pronounced jasmine flavour. Despite the setbacks, it’s still a tea you can pour for your guests if they like jasmine teas.
Flavors: Artificial, Floral, Jasmine
Preparation
The leaves are very long and unbroken, which always appeals to me. After steeping, the teawater has an extremely light colour. The leaves themselves smell very fresh and grassy.
The tea itself has almost no recognisable scent. The tea itself is also extremely mild with a very soft grassy/bloomy tone to it. It has no bitterness and leaves a very pleasant “fresh” pallet of flavours in your mouth after drinking it.
I find Sencha green teas to be far too grassy. This one has the positive characteristics of the sencha, but without the overpowering grass-flavour. One of the best green teas i know. Be careful not to oversteep though, as the tea tends to get a bit bitter when steeped for too long.
Flavors: Floral, Grass
Preparation
The dry leaves already smell very fresh and grassy. After steeping, the leaves smell like fresh cut grass (as does the tea itself).
The tea has a pleasant and smooth taste, but the “fresh cut grass-flavour” is a little bit too dominant for me. After tasting, this flavour stays behind in your mouth for quite some time. It’s not unpleasant, but it is an acquired taste for sure. One I would recommend to lovers of extremely soft green teas without a pronounced flavour profile.
Flavors: Cut Grass
