Tea: Organic Tanzania Single Estate Blend Black Tea
A Black Tea from Red Rose Tea - 
Organic - 
Fair Trade
This tea has been retired/discontinued.
| Brand: | Red Rose Tea |
| Style: | Black Tea |
| Region: | Tanzania |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Loose? | Teabag |
| # Ratings: | 2 View All |
Reviewer: Alex Zorach
✓ 1448 teas reviewed
✓ 496 of Black Tea
✓ 949 of Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis)
✓ 7 of Red Rose Tea
✓ 12 from Tanzania
Review of Organic Tanzania Single Estate Blend Black Tea
December 13th, 2013
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 5 of 10 | 3 of 5 | 2 of 5 | 43 of 100 |
| Fair | Fair | Overpriced |
I received this tea bag as a sample at the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Festival. It's encouraging to see a company like Red Rose experimenting with single-estate teas, and I also liked that this is both organic and fair trade certified.
Tea bag is not very aromatic, and upon brewing, the cup isn't very aromatic either. Flavor is mild, but upon drinking, I notice a strong aroma of cinnamon. This is probably the most cinnamony of a pure tea I've had...it's quite remarkable. The cup evolves through tones of sweet rice, and leaves a strong and pleasant fruity finish, and a hint of wintergreen, which unfortunately creates an estery effect, like overripe fruit or bubble gum.
Although the cup is very dark in color, there is less astringency than I'd expect--considerably less than a mainstream brand like Lipton. I think this is possibly a bit smoother than Red Rose's standard teas as well, although there is some harshness.
Prior to this one, I've tried 5 pure teas from Tanzania, so I have a sense of what the region is able to produce. Teas from the region tend to be pretty good, at least the ones that I've found available in the west.
Chai Bora's luxury blend tea is the one I would compare this to as a standard--as both are tea bags containing finely broken fannings or tea dust, and are in similar price ranges. I think I may slightly prefer chai bora, although this tea's cinnamony aroma was unique.
Because it was a bit unpleasant without, I tried adding milk and I think this tea tastes much better with milk. It retains some of the interesting aromatic tones even with the milk; milk brings out the rice-like qualities.
I like that Red Rose has decided to explore the world of single-estate teas, and they've found something genuinely interesting in this blend. Unfortunately I think it's still just not that good a tea...too low grade and too harsh, especially at the price of $4.50 a box. I'd be really curious what a slightly higher grade of tea from this same tea garden would taste like--if it could be a bit smoother.
