This tea is incredible! Thank you to Simpson & Vail for sending it to me as a sample. I was recently very wowed by a Colombian black tea sold by Harney & Sons, and I was eager to try this one. It is very similar, but I think even better. I suspect this is probably a higher-grade tea from the same tea garden.

Dry leaf is amazingly aromatic; as soon as I open the bag there's a beautiful fragrance, intensely fruity and malty. I was curious how similar this would be to the Colombian black I tried from Harney & Sons; it has some recognizable aromatic notes, but is surprisingly distinct. This tea's leaf is more wiry and the aroma is deeper, a little more like an Assam.

The brewed cup is even more malty, intensely so, and also vegetal, and reminds me of Yunnan gold teas or Assam. Edgy, and intensely warming; a perfect tea for a cold winter day. But it also has a honey-like sweetness. I find that the malty quality comes out more when I brew it strongly, whereas the sweet honey quality came out more when I brewed a milder cup. Just enough astringency to make it full-bodied, but it was still pleasantly smooth.

I preferred a heaping teaspoon of leaf and a 3 minute steep, followed by one or two resteeps. This tea resteeps exceptionally well for a black tea.

The price is very reasonable; this is a top-notch tea, among the best teas I've ever tried. Although it costs over twice as much as the Colombian tea from Harney (which was also excellent) I thought it was appropriately a step-up in quality, and still an excellent deal.

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