9th day of Vahdam black tea sampler

Oh boy, another day, another disappointment. I should add a 'disappointment' tag. It certainly looks the 'gold' part, expectations were high.

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I started brewing with hotter water, around 90°C, thinking it might need it. Big mistake! That just brought out way too much bitterness. So, I dialled it back significantly for the next attempts, settling on the 85°C range. That definitely helped tame the bitterness, so lower temps seem key for this specific tea.

Despite the visual promise of the golden tips, the aroma wasn't giving much away. Both the dry leaves and the brewed tea had a pretty muted scent.

Taste-wise... well, it was just okay. I definitely got the maltiness you expect from an Assam, followed by a noticeable earthy note and bitterness. But that was kind of it. I kept searching for more complexity, maybe some sweetness, richness, or other nuances that the "Gold" name and those golden tips hinted at, but I couldn't really find anything else distinct. It just tasted like a fairly standard malty, earthy, bitter black tea.

So yeah, had a lot of expectations for it. The name and the appearance suggested something a bit special, but the flavour profile felt quite basic and didn't really deliver on that promise. It wasn't bad, just underwhelming and didn't stand out. I actually used up most of the leaves, different temps and infusion times because I kept wondering if I was missing something, turns out, it's just...that.