A very good black tea that exceeded my expectations especially for its price. However, this tea is not for every moment: it is bold and sharp tasting and strongly caffeinated.

This was one of several teas I have bought recently, throwing into Amazon orders to get over the free shipping thresholds.

The dry leaf, which looks quite dark but well-formed and mostly intact, has a surprisingly strong strawberry aroma, alongside typical deep Assam notes. The smell of the dry leaf leads me to expect a tea that is bold and sharp, but perhaps thin.

The brewed cup is exactly as I would expect from how the leaf looks and smells. The strawberry aroma does come through in the brewed cup, which is nice, and also makes this tea unique and memorable. The body is a bit thin for an Assam. For how dark this tea looks, it doesn't taste very tannic; it has a clear, cool bitterness and less astringency and less of the sort of warm, blunt qualities that some black teas have. There are hints of bready / malty qualities, but not as much as in some Assams. Drinking the full cup there are some interesting notes of dried fruit that come out later on.

This tea has quite a caffeine kick, I'd say more than I sometimes want to consume. I can become a bit jittery or revved up if I drink too much of this one, contrasting with some Assams which lead me feeling a bit more relaxed and balanced.

Resteeps very well. You can easily make two steeps using typical Western-style brewing (3 minutes for the first cup) and the second cup is plenty strong.

The overall quality is better than what I would expect typically from the TGFOP grade. I've had a number of teas of this exact grade or even higher that just weren't as good. I don't know what it is, freshness, or just good production quality?

This is a great tea to throw into an Amazon order. The price is really outstanding; it is hard to get tea of this quality at this price. Be warned though, this tea is strongly caffeinated and I recommend against it if you are prone to getting over-caffeinated or want to moderate your caffeine intake.

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