Another from my Butiki order. I couldn’t resist this one, I am familiar with tamarind only in some asian cooking but it is an interesting taste and I wondered how it would go in tea. I made a pot for the beau and myself this evening, and was surprised by the aroma. I didn’t pick up on anything I could call tamarind, instead I found it smelled of vanilla and reminded me of the Caramel Vanilla Assam (in aroma at least). It also reminds me of a monk’s blend I have with vanilla and pomegranate, randomly. Definitely not bad, but not what I expected, aroma-wise.
Steeped, I still just get the sense of vanilla and black tea. It smells like it will be a bit bitter, but I steeped it per directions – 3 minutes with boiling water. Hmm. First sips yield the expected results. Slightly astringent black tea with some vanilla. Not creamy yummy vanilla, but still something that makes me think of vanilla. Nothing says tamarind for me. I added a small piece of rock sugar (also from butiki) but it didn’t really dissolve as hoped, and didn’t change the taste for me. This isn’t bad, but definitely disappointing. It tastes almost exactly like a low quality monk’s blend I picked up once. I will try again to see if I can’t improve on this result, but this was a miss for me. The beau loves it though so if I can’t fix it up he will have no problem drinking it down.
Thinking about it, and I think part of my problem is the tea base. I prefer sweet Chinese blacks that I don’t have to do anything to, where this seems to need some sugar (which I don’t like to use). I will try steeping it more gently next time!
Update: Despite sweetening the rest of the pot, I find it quite bitter. The beau rates this at a 79 but I like it even less as I get further in. Disappointing.
