I'm trying another Georgian tea sent for review by Greengold, following review of a white / green version, an oolong and roasted green version, and two black teas. All of these have been interesting and pleasant, and none really completely match styles from other places, standing alone as novel type versions. Quality was good for all of them.
It works as an intro to clarify that often vendors sell relatively fully oxidized teas as either black or red tea. Red tea, the more literal original Chinese designation, is often used for styles that are less oxidized and sun-dried, matching some Chinese processing range. Black tea is almost always used for Indian / Sri Lankan style black teas, which tend to be more fully oxidized, and may or may not be presented as very broken leaf. Those conventions can be a little loose; either term could work for any related teas.
From an online product listing on their website:
It was really nice, and the review descriptions I wrote match that fairly closely, as follows.
Review:
#1: brewed a bit light, still opening up, but already malty. It includes warm and sweet tones similar to malty Chinese black teas, not a bit drier and stronger as is typical for Assam. It leans a little towards cacao but flavor might be centered more on fruit, along the lines of dried fruit. It's complex, but unpacking that to a list might be difficult.
#2: brewed a little too strong; funny how that cycle happens so often, overcompensating for a last round. A few layers of flavors dial way up in this. Mineral base picks up, including an inky aspect. Savory sun-dried tomato range joins in. Some warm tones remind me of an effect from roasted teas, no longer close to cacao but more into coffee range. That mineral is so pronounced that it seems to include salt. Sweentness is fine; it helps the rest balance.
It will be interesting trying this brewed more optimally, if I ever get to that, to see how these flavors balance when it's brewed better.
#3: better! Mineral still does include a touch of salt, seemingly, which matches with the savory note, and kind of works, offset by the rest. Complexity is really good in this; there is a lot going on. None of it really seems like a flaw, just interesting character instead. There is no sourness or tartness (maybe a trace, balancing with the rest), no musty flavor; it's clean, rich, and bright.
I can't place this as similar to any Chinese tea, or from anywhere else. I guess that's fine, that it's novel and distinctive.
Fruit range is interesting, and a bit hard to place, towards a fruity version of floral experience. It might taste a little like the Thai roselle tisane, rich and sweet, a little towards rose petals, but not exactly the same. The warmer fruit range might be along the lines of dried tamarind. It's hard to separate those inputs out and define them, with all the rest going on.
It's a little early but I might try to place how much I like this. It's good, pleasant and interesting. I keep having the experience of it being more complicated relating to a completely novel tea experience, at this stage in my tea journey. It's almost as if repeating variations of earlier experiences would be easier to relate to, versus having new ones. People seeking out repetition of an earlier experience might not be as interested in this tea. Then of course it's also pleasant for offering something new. I had neighbors new to better tea experience try one of the Greengold teas I had reviewed earlier and they absolutely loved it, one of their favorites in a set of interesting versions.
I've been drinking a Thai version of shai hong, Yunnan sun-dried, slightly lower oxidation level black tea, that this is closest to. It's as different as similar, with that a little more tart, and flavor set not exactly matching, but the range is closest to that.
#4: warm and sweet tones pick up, and the savory range stands out more than the mineral aspects now. I like it slightly more like this, and it was already pretty good before. It balances in a more conventional way. I would guess that this would brew quite well using a more conventional Western approach (conventional across the count of all tea drinkers; probably more tea enthusiasts would tend to Gong Fu brew this kind of tea).
You experience this across your tongue and the rest of your mouth in an unusual way. It's intense, and the experience coats your mouth, as flavor and feel, with that pronounced mineral range and sweetness lingering on. Feel isn't dry or rough, but it has full body. For the aftertaste some warm mineral, fruit tones, and a lighter cacao / coffee sort of input carries over. That last part has shifted back closer to cacao brewed lighter, or maybe that's just part of the transition cycle.
Oxidation level seems low in this; that probably contributes to it having an unusual character. Tones would warm further and flavor range would be more familiar oxidized more to a conventional level. As it stands the result is quite novel.
#5: Fading a bit, but still quite pleasant. This will stretch for a few more rounds if I add more infusion time, and it seems those will still be pleasant, but it's on the way out. I'm not noticing a completely new transition, more a mix of what occurred before. Some of what I listed out seems to fade as a root spice tone picks up. That savory edge and unusual mineral, right at the edge of salt, is still there, and most of the rest, just faded now.
Conclusions:
Pleasant, complex, and novel. Note there were no mentions of any kinds of flaws, typical for their teas.
This did seem to be processed to back off full oxidation level slightly, evident in the color of the lighter brewed rounds, and in the flavor listing. Of course I'm not mentioning vegetal tones here or anything like that; I mean that maybe it's not completely oxidized, but not in a more medium oolong-level range. It's good.
It always helps to place how good a tea is in comparison to value, relating quality and pleasantness in comparison with cost, since that range matters. A pretty good tea selling for 15 cents a gram can be a much better value than a better version selling for 30. Greengold is a producer, selling their teas wholesale through other outlets, so their website that I mentioned isn't listing per 50 or 100 gram prices, or any prices at all.
This tea holds its own with quality level for most of what is sold through Western outlets related to teas from other countries, all the way up curator sites where only the absolute best quality teas are sold for quite a bit, well over that 30 cents per gram range, then this might stand out less. If this somehow absolutely matched someone's style preference then never mind how much or how little it costs, it would be fantastic. I really liked it.
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