Hi there
I am wondering if you can help. Does anyone have any suggestions for an Assam estate that does a really strong, malty and spicy Assam? Something smooth without the heavy fruits some have. It's proving really tough to find something strong enough that can take milk. In the UK we have a couple of companies that have hearty English Breakfast teas but I don't know what estates they come from. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sep 6th, '18, 04:27
Posts: 9
Joined: Aug 17th, '11, 14:00
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
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tencats_tea
Re: A Strong English Breakfast
Good luck with that, good Assam tea is long long gone, likely due mostly to advancing climate change. The last really good Assam teas that I experienced were back in time 2006 and earlier years. This season has been especially thin in good pickings. I'm just barely hanging in there myself with a very few Assams. Teabox has a decent little Harmutty Special Summer Black thats ok by itself or as a base for combining with some other higher grade Assam teas. Vahdam has a fairly good Halmari Gold Assam Second Flush and their propriety blends, Assam Gold Second Flush and the Smoky Assam Souchong Black Tea. Missing this year is any good Mangalam, Hattalli and Chota Tingrai FTGFOP1's that were available in recent years but maybe they will yet show up. TeaGschwendner in USA had a very decent little Hattialli STGBOP and a Marangi SFTGFOP 1 that were good during this past winter season but have now sadly faded although they may yet have a lingering quality for some tastes. What happened to the Nahorhabi, Duflating and so many other estate Assams? All long time gone.
Re: A Strong English Breakfast
Hi there! Until recently I had the same feelings about Assam. I also found Halmari Gold really good but I recently discovered Latumoni that blew my mind! Have you tried it? Not sure if it's ideal for English Breakfast blend but in my limited knowledge it's the very best Assam I've had.tencats_tea wrote: Good luck with that, good Assam tea is long long gone, likely due mostly to advancing climate change.
It has very long and intact leaf, similar to the Taiwanese Assam Blacks ( No 8 ) and depending on how you brew it, can be very fruity and aromatic to intensely malty. I even tried it with 6 gr in 180ml for 3 min and found no bitterness at all - just a very thick syrupy malt flavour with pleasant astringency. You can find it at What-Cha and TheTea.pl