Trader Joe's teas seem to fall into two bins:
1. Very good, which at their typically low prices for bagged tea, makes it quite a strong value, even if not nearly the best of its type, and
2. Mediocre to poor, as one expects from most store brands.

Fortunately their organic Assam offering lies squarely in the first category. Compared to some top Assams (say, Murchie's loose leaf), it can't compete for density and complexity. Yet nobody expects world-class performance from a store brand. Instead, this delivers upper-second-tier goodness, which still is quite delicious, and making it a strong bargain. This is a straightforwardly typical Assam, obviously malty in aroma and taste, without much else, but with a rich, almost savory mouth feel and aftertaste that surprised me. There's no question what kind of tea this is, if you were to deliver a blind taste test to someone with Assam experience.

I don't know what flush they use, but then again, I'm no expert on tea flushes. Toilet and poker flushes, you bet. :-) I'd bet an ace-high hand of consecutive face cards it's one of the more-desired tea flushes, however.

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