Murchie's website touts this Assam as, "especially good where water conditions overpower more delicate teas". As someone who likes strong and unpretentious teas, that caught my attention, even though my well water is good. And it's cool of them to be considerate of folks with poor water and offer a tea supposedly intense enough to subdue it.

My wife got a box when we visited their Victoria store, banking on Murchie's reputation for quality, and was not disappointed; she has raved about how she can draw 2-3 normal-sized cups out of a single bag. [Presumably one would shake out fewer loose leaves than usual to brew a single cup as well.] Since our palates do differ, sometimes by margins approximating multiple parsecs of space travel, she invited me to give it a go.

In short: excellent. I steeped for 5-7 minutes with stirring, as usual, to draw out every last possible bit, and even my big cup's contents assumed such a deep, rich chestnut color it was not possible to see more than 1/4 of the way down. A smooth, really dark, somewhat malty, rich, robust tea with no negatives that I could detect...and a bold flavor even more potent than its 7-rated aroma. She may have to hide this tea from me like she does other delicious items she doesn't want me to raid. ;-)

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