Organic Tanzania Tea from Culinary Teas

tanzania_organicTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Culinary Teas

Tea Description: 

This organic tea comes from Usambara in northern Tanzania. Years ago lions freely roamed this region. The tea is reddish and the cup has a full and malty flavored.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Mmm!  It’s been a little while since I last had a pure Tanzania black tea.  It’s a tea that’s always welcome in my teacup!  I love the rich, malty flavor!

The dry leaf is a very small CTC leaf.  What that says to me is that I need to make a couple of adjustments to my brewing routine.  First, I have a smaller leaf so there is more surface area exposed.  So, I want to cut the brew time a little bit so that I don’t wind up with a bitter tasting cup!  With a small cut leaf like this, I usually brew the tea for just 2 – 2 1/2 minutes.  Since I brewed this in my Kati tumbler, I went with 2 1/2 minutes.  If I were brewing it in my Breville tea maker, I’d go with 2 minutes.

Also with the smaller cut leaf, you have more leaf in a measuring vessel than you would with a full leaf.  That is to say that 1 bamboo scoop of this tea would be more tea than 1 bamboo scoop of a whole leaf tea.  So, I reduce the amount of tea that I measure into the basket of the tumbler.  So instead of a bamboo scoop, I went with 3/4 bamboo scoop of leaf.

And the flavor is exactly what I was looking for this morning!  It’s rich, full-flavored and loaded with the gusto I need to get myself going today!  It is so malty – it would rival a favorite Assam!  And the flavor is less harsh than Assam (Assam can sometimes be bitter!)  This has a lovely caramel undertone that melds nicely with the malt.  Notes of earth, leather, hints of molasses.  As I near mid-cup, I start to pick up on some stone fruit notes.  Plum.  Caramelized plum!

Delightful!  I love that this tea is organic.  But even more than that, I love that this is a full-bodied, flavorful cup of tea that has given me the invigorating kick that I needed today!

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