Chris Trottier on Nostr: Today’s tea is an Indian black tea that a local Indian restaurant owner gave me. ...
Today’s tea is an Indian black tea that a local Indian restaurant owner gave me.
That is everything I know about it. I don't know the estate, nor the objective grade, nor any fancy little story about mist rolling over the mountains.
But the leaves already have my attention because they’re big and mostly intact. That alone puts them ahead of a lot of Indian tea I’ve bought, where somebody swears up and down that it’s “whole leaf” and I open the bag to find chopped-up little bits.
I’ve been burned by that enough times.
Nevertheless, I have some expectations here. I’m expecting malt. I’m expecting that good brisk kick you get from Assam-type tea. But with leaves this large, I’m hoping for less bitterness and astringency and more of the deep, clean flavour I’ve found in Assam teas grown in China and Taiwan.
And the funny thing is, I wasn’t even hunting for this one. It just landed in my hands. Free tea from an Indian restaurant owner, with big beautiful leaves inside.
Hell yes, I’m curious.
First round will be Western style: a small amount of leaf, a big mug, and a long steep. Then I’m going the other way with gongfu: more leaf, less water, short steeps, and several rounds to see what else crawls out.
I’ve spent years looking for really good Indian whole-leaf tea.
Maybe the damn thing finally found me.
Published at
2026-08-21 22:01:45 UTCEvent JSON
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