Post #4268867

Now I remember why I loved this Kalami Assam black tea from Ahmad Tea! This is everything I love about Assam. I first made it the recommended way—the Western way—by putting in 2g of leaves into a 250mL teapot, and steeping with rolling boiled water for 7 minutes. It’s great. It’s malty, brisk, tannic. The long brewing time leans more towards bitterness and astringency, but perfectly fine without milk or sugar. It’s when we go with gongfu brewing that things get very interesting—turns it into something special. I put 5g of leaves into a 120mL teapot, added water heated to 95C, and did a short steep for 30 seconds. Now we have very little bitterness and astringency, and some other elements come out: grapes, stone fruit, peaches, apricots, chocolate, vanilla. It’s as though this is a fruity tea blend. But it’s not! At first, I thought this was my imagination. Have I been using the same teacup with all my teas? So I brought forth another cup. Gave it a long smell. Not my imagination—it indeed smells like freshly picked fruit. With another sip, there it was again: the fruit, the malt, the chocolate. Everything. And it was delicious. The wild part? This isn’t even as good as it could be. For while this is loosely tea, it is also loosely cut with a few stems hanging around. If this was actually whole leaf, imagine how amazing it would be. Yet, even as it is, it is so good. Just for a moment, looks at the way those leaves expanded before and after steep. The way bubbles collect on the surface of the steep. The deep amber colour of the brew. It’s beautiful. Understand that this is cheap tea—but that doesn’t mean it’s terrible. On Amazon, it costs C$14.99 for 454g. Which means it’s less expensive than most fannings and dust stuffed in teabags. It also makes me wonder what would happen if I got my hands on whole leaves. Would it be that much better? Or would it be a matter of paying a premium for diminishing returns? Perhaps some day I will find out. But today, I will enjoy this tea. RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/ede27d27-9963-4a37-a889-a8fe40883686