I have been wanting to try a tea from Georgia for a long time; the past few times I've gotten teas from Simpson & Vail, this tea has not been available, so I was excited to see it come back into their catalogue.

This tea was also really fascinating, very different from other black teas I've tried, even different from the teas I've tried from elsewhere in the Black Sea region, notably Russia and Turkey, although there was some resemblance to Turkish tea.

What makes this tea so different is its aroma. The brewed cup has aromatic notes of citrus peel, like dried orange peel, and the aroma is fruity in other ways as well. The flavor is somewhat muted. There is only a slight bitterness, and also a light sourness and savory flavor. It has the perfect amount of astringency: full-bodied but fairly smooth. However, I wasn't able to pin it down, but this tea kept tasting like something was missing, flavor-wise. It didn't seem very caffeinated, but I don't mind that, I tend to often prefer teas with less caffeine. It may have been that it was almost completely lacking in natural sweetness? Not that tea is naturally very sweet, but I think most tea has a very slight, subtle natural sweetness, some more than others, and this one just seemed to be lacking it.

The resteep is softer, but overall, similar to the first. It resteeps fairly well for such broken leaf.

I enjoyed this for a change of pace but it was not among my favorite teas. It lacks some of the flavor and aromatic qualities than I most like in black teas, and while it was interesting, and rather easy to drink, I wouldn't want to drink it regularly just because there are so many other teas I enjoy more.

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