Assam 2nd flush FTGFOPIcl Mokalbari

Not yet a sipdown (and probably won’t be in January); but Jan. 1 a tea I love prompt by ashmanra’s sipdown progress thread.

I really loved this tea by What-cha; afterall look here: http://steepster.com/teas/what-cha/90931-india-assam-mokalbari-ftgfop-1-tippy-black-tea and I have been searching something similar, or if possible very same. Of course, different harvests are different harvests, so maybe 2019 was so good and 2022 wasn’t that great. I even bought a tea at Siam Tee Shop, which I thought is this one, while realising in last second it is Makaibari and not Mokalbari, but decided to place order with that anyway.

I have digressed from this tea from Finland; sorry.
This tea could be considered to be added in prompt A malty tea, but I already have there Virunga Sunrise. It is indeed very malty, but also notes of wood, sweet, maybe a honey; and very robust. I used two teaspoons in my basket strainer in my 300 ml cup.

Certainly it smells lovely, both dry and wet, including brewed tea itself. At first it is some basic tannic notes, but then florals appear, again the malt and some other notes I am not able to identify now. But I have plenty left, so I will try. Maybe gongfu would work for that better.

In conclusion, as I said, it is not so good as What-cha’s version, but maybe it’s different harvest or different, less quality tea, but still very good one.