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Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Simple Leaf Loose Leaf Black Tea 'Dawn'

Tea Information:
Tea: Dawn
Type: Black Tea
Packaging: Loose Leaf
Company: The Simple Leaf
Purchase: Here
Description: And now for something completely different. If you haven’t heard about Arunachal Pradesh or Abali before, prepare to be delighted. When we first received this tea, we just had to stare and wonder at these gorgeous, long, hand-rolled orthodox leaves with prominent tips. Simply smelling the aroma from the leaf had us floored before we had even taken our first sip. When brewed, it produced a wonderful mellow, golden liquor that was pleasantly smooth and refreshing. Tasting this tea brought back visions of a light mist hovering over tea bushes at dawn. Enjoy hot or iced.
Origin: Abali Estate / Arunachal Pradesh, India
Ingredients: Organic Indian Black Tea

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 6 oz filtered, boiling, 190°
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: not much
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal
Flavor: buttery smooth, vegetal, then black tea, complex, a little sweet
Body: Full
Aftertaste: black tea, slightly astringent, perhaps a touch bitter
Liquor: Dark translucent brown

A generous gift from SoccerMom, since I was drooling over everyone's posts.

The dry leaves are amazing, they are long thin rolls and just neat to look at.

The smell surprised me, I don't associate vegetal with black tea.

Sadly I am not getting the chocolate, caramel or honey others were picking up.

I must echo takgoti that it is a rich tea, yet leaves you lightly. Some teas feel as though you have drank a thick shake, and although delicious fill you up. The flavors and scent are rich with Dawn, but leave you with room for more of the re-steeps.

This is not a flavored black, yet it is rich and complex and very enjoyable! quite a contrast to this morning's PG tips.

Although I can't jump on the 'favorite tea' bandwagon, I am extremely grateful to SoccerMom for letting me try some. I am enjoying my tea and it's re-steeps and I think if I ever place an order from the simple leaf Dawn will be included. Right now I am not going to rush and place an order just for Dawn.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: 5 min, much the same as the first, very impressive re-steep really. One leaf fully unfurled, hopefully you can see it in the picture.

MilitiaJim took a sip and made an awful face and declared it tasted like mud.

I decided everyone else found chocolate, and I was defective and had a glass with some chocolate cake. Still no chocolate found.

Rating: 3/4 leaves


Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing






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