I have always been interested in What-Cha because the brand carries teas from around the world. Today we will be looking at a black tea from Vietnam!
Description: “A brilliant wild growing black tea with a rich taste of dark chocolate and malt.”
Instructions: 95°C/203°F| 1-2 tsps per cup | 2-3 minutes
Review: This tea is from the Nui Giang, Yen Bai Province in Vietnam. It is a wild grown tea which is “picked by local hill tribes who bring the leaves into town where they are processed.” The name comes from the wild boar which lives in the area. The tea bushes are dated from 200-800 years old and are at an altitude of 1400m+. This all sounds promising!
When I first gave the re-sealable bag of tea a sniff, I was actually surprised at how “green” and fresh it smelled. However, there was an underlying maltiness that I was able to detect. The leaves were a dark olive/brown with a mixture of smaller and larger pieces of leaves with some golden-yellow tips. Most of the tea leaves were broken.
After infusion, the leaves were a chocolate brown, and I was able to pick up some malt notes which reminded me a bit of Darjeeling. The liquor was a clear reddish brown and smelled more herbal and earthy.
When hot, the liquor had nice malt notes but there was a bit of astringency. I found that it tasted a slightly roasted with earthy notes. However, taste wise, it still reminded me of a first flush Darjeeling which has some grassy notes. This makes sense because this was a spring harvest (April) tea. Letting the liquor cool allowed more of the astringency to come out but the tea was still palatable. I personally enjoyed it hot. I am excited to try more teas from this brand (4/5 rating).
- Type: Black tea
- Origin: Vietnam
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Black tea
- Company: What-Cha
The question of the post: Have you tried tea from Vietnam before and if so, what?
3 comments
Thanks for post. I’m always looking for new vendors and What-Cha looks like a good one!
I am sorry, I didn’t notice this comment! I really enjoyed what I have tried so far from the brand. I will have a few more reviews coming out soon the next few months so look out for that. 🙂
[…] received this in an Intro to Tea set from What-Cha, along with the Vietnam ‘Wild Boar’ Black Tea (with more reviews in the future!). While I always love to try new teas from around the world, I […]