Thanks again to Mighty Leaf for this sample! Like the other Assam from mighty leaf, I liked this tea from the first sip, but it also grew on me substantially. Another classic Assam, this one of higher grade. It was good the first few times I brewed it, but I found it really shined when I gave it a long steep.

This tea has big, intact pieces of whole leaf, with ample orange tips and a beautiful dusty appearance. The leaf smells subtle, not as in-your-face as the broken leaf variant, and is much more malty, with a more complex malt aroma, also fruity.

When I brewed it only three minutes, this tea seemed to have slightly less body than the broken-leaf variant...it initially tasted clearer and smoother although there's a sharp, edgy astringency, that I found very pleasant. The aroma is emininently pleasing: controlled, fruity and malty.

This tea truly shined though when I upped the steeping time to five minutes...the aroma became much more complex and the flavor changed. There were strong wintergreen notes, and also a floral quality, in the aroma, and there was a honey-like sweetness.

Like the other Assam from Mighty Leaf, I loved how I felt after drinking this one. It's energizing without making me feel at all jittery, and I find it relaxing as well.

The price on this is very good. Some people might not notice the difference between this and the Assam Golden Tip, I actually preferred the golden tip, which is slightly cheaper, until I tried a longer steep on this one...but with the longer steep, wow. I think it's worth paying the extra for this higher grade.

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