Assam Teehaus orthodox Assam versions

orthodox Assam (left) and blended orthodox Assam

more sharing tea than samples in this case

I'm reviewing two more of the Assam versions passed on by Maddhurjya Gogoi, related to his cousin Chittaranjan recently visiting here to drop them off, and the earlier review of two others.  There's more on what they are doing, and photos of tea growing and production on his related Facebook page, and a vendor profile in this review post from last year.  The short version is that they're focusing on changing over to organic production methods, and using a local co-op style processing model.

I don't have more to share as an intro; these are presented as orthodox Assam and blended orthodox Assam.  Teas are ordinarily grown and processed by relatively small origin local lots and harvest seasons, and that must be what's going on here, just without those specifics.  They could as easily be presented along with invoice numbers or brand names, as the Enigma version was, but that doesn't change how they come across when brewed anyway.  Maddhurjya is probably selling more of this tea in a small wholesale vendor capacity than as an end-point seller, which would naturally relate to doing less with an online sales outlet site and branding themes.

Review:

blended orthodox right

Orthodox:  pretty good orthodox Assam.  Malt stands out, of course, but as is typical for better orthodox Assam it's moderate in intensity, balanced by other flavor aspect range.  A pronounced dark mineral tone grounds the flavors.  Sweetness, balance, and complexity are fine.  I'll do more with splitting out an aspects list next round.


Blended orthodox:  this is similar, it just has a different flavor aspect to it, some sort of spice or herb range.  It's hard to tell if it's identical to the other wild version I had already tried, which struck me as closest to fennel seed.  It might be that, or it may not be.  This version seems a little drier than the first.  The mineral effect is similar but the feel aspect is different.  Dryness is moderate for both, the way the feel structure extends to include that.

Second infusion:

Orthodox:  it's quite nice; the level of malt, feel structure, clean flavors, and overall balance.  It could be a little sweeter and a little more complex.  The flavor intensity coming across as malt and a warm mineral undertone is pleasant but more range would be more positive. 

At some point these descriptions and interpretations end up splitting hairs, pitting quite good versions of teas against the best versions that I've ever experienced.  This tea would be a revelation for a lot of black tea drinkers, breaking into new ground for striking the overall balance it does.  It's much better than any blend, Assam, or Ceylon that ever finds it's way into a mass produced commercial tin or grocery store shelf.  I'd probably like their Enigma version better, at a guess; I should try those two together sometime.

Blended orthodox:  again a different flavor aspect in this stands out, something else along the line of herb spice, which may be towards green wood, or really could be something closer to the fennel seed notable in the other tea.  It's not strong enough to be easy to identify.  It makes it seem like this might be slightly less oxidized but that flavor shift could come about in other ways (using a different tea plant type input, for example). 

The body seems lighter than the first in this round, as if part of the structure and dryness is common and another part is missing, so softer.  It's odd that I'd interpret that feel difference in two completely different ways across subsequent infusions.  This round I brewed a bit lighter, and that would shift how both come across, but it shouldn't relate to any secondary aspect inversion like that.  That could be tied to review error, or maybe just related to one brewing slightly faster than the other.  Bud content shifts feel quite a bit, along with changing flavor; that may be a difference between these.

Third infusion:

I'll try slightly longer to get a feel for how these come across at an infusion strength that might be more conventional for most people.

Orthodox Assam:  flavor complexity is really nice for this; the description so far hasn't done that justice.  Beyond the malt a citrus-like aspect seems to be picking up.  It's on the sweet and warm side, so may be in between tangerine and red grapefruit.  Warm mineral range still stands out.  Feel has softened just a little, with that moderate dryness easing up, settling into an even better balance.  Now it's more just full.  An aftertaste effect rounds out the experience, a trailing on of the malt and citrus.

Blended orthodox:  wood picks up; that herb spice like aspect seems more solidly within slightly cured hardwood range now.  A reasonable amount of sweetness offsets that, although a bit more sweetness and flavor complexity would really shift how this comes across.  There is a warmer spice aspect that seems to be picking up, not the "greener" or more herb range fennel seed as prior, towards an aromatic wood tone, or related bark spice.  It's not really cinnamon, or towards frankincense / myrrh, somewhere in the middle. 

Fourth infusion:

Orthodox Assam:  not so different than last round; citrus might have bumped up just a touch.  This is much nicer than in the first two rounds, with that touch of dryness shifting to rich fullness, and with sweetness and flavor complexity evolving.  Even a warmer touch of spice tone adds a bit of extra range.  This is on par with the better versions of Assam I've tried, probably with final judgment about it relating as much to personal preference for aspects and style as to quality level.

Blended orthodox:  also not different.  I don't care for the pronounced wood-tone as much as the added sweetness and fruit in the other version, but to some extent that's probably about preference too.  Feel still gives up just a little, with decent fullness and richness, just slightly less so in comparison with the other version.


Of course the teas were far from finished there, four rounds in using Gongfu style brewing, maybe about halfway through a typical cycle.  A couple of rounds later it seemed like I probably should have been adding cocoa to the flavor description list, but that doesn't change the overall account by much. 

Usually transitions vary less in the second half, so only covering the first four infusions gets the general idea across.  A tea brewing a large number of positive infusions is one sign of quality, and these did keep going, but it's a fine point trying to judge count and late steep changes as that kind of indicator. 

Conclusions:

I'm thinking that trying two of the best Chinese black teas I've yet to experience yesterday is coloring this interpretation (a Fujian Lapsang Souchong and Jin Jun Mei).  These teas are good, just not on that level.  There's no shame in that; almost no Chinese black teas are on that level either.  Those expressed incredible complexity and balance, novel fruit and honey flavors, and a really refined nature.  They were the product of generations of selection of plant types, growing and harvesting inputs, and processing skills, and also relatively ideal growing conditions for those plant types.  These two Assam versions probably stand head and shoulders above almost all the Assam tea versions produced a decade ago, helping set a new benchmark, holding their own ground against the progress other better local producers are making.

To some extent that's comparing apples and oranges anyway, since Assam tea styles are just different.  It's also true that I'm most attached to Chinese style teas, even though I can appreciate and enjoy Indian tea versions, black teas from Assam, Darjeeling, and other areas, and what other South East Asian countries produce.  One might wonder to what extent I'm mixing up "objectively better" and personal style preference, and I may not be able to draw that line myself.  These Assam versions would be perfect with food, a great breakfast tea, and are good enough that thorough experimenting with optimizing brewing results would still make sense.

I think it will help trying these alongside other Assam versions, to really place them.  I'm not going to review these samples every weekend for three weeks in a row but at some point it would be interesting doing a direct comparison, or maybe with a Darjeeling sample I have yet to get to. 

I'll try to get back to that, but there are some other really interesting teas around to try as well.  I picked up a really novel Thai version of a sheng ("pu'er-like tea") about a month ago, and I've had some aged sheng and shu to get to, and a Yunnan Dian Hong Chinese black tea version.  That might be interesting to use for comparison too.

I was talking in the last post about how people seem to fear tea supply running out too much, keeping sources a secret so that what they like is there to buy when they get back to it.  One part of that was the idea that other tea growing regions are developing better and better processing methods and tea quality output.  These teas represent part of what I was talking about.  These versions are really pleasant now, and given where they stand in relation to the last I tried from Maddhurjya--which were already quite nice--they'll probably just keep getting better.  Anyone who hasn't tried Assam in awhile probably isn't familiar with what the better orthodox version range is like now.