Dec 17
Review: Red Leaf Tea Assam Jungle Cabernet
Assam Tea, Black Tea, Cinnamon Tea, Licorice Root Tea, Red Leaf Tea Add commentsLaura’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "The Assam provides a rich, full-bodied backdrop for the flavor profile. The flavor profile has nuances of red wine, cinnamon and even notes of a dark semi-sweet chocolate."
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"The Assam region of India is well known for its strong, malty black teas and pungent green teas. To the powerful briskness of these teas we have added the sweet and vivid flavor of a bright cabernet wine. Heavily infused prior to drying, the full-bodied cabernet pervades the deep and dark Assam herbs, brightening a black tea that famously stimulates your afternoons!" ---Red Leaf Tea website.Admittedly, Assam is not my favorite tea base. I tend to find that the astringency that often accompanies it crosses over into area that I consider to be aggressive. I do like their malty characteristics and even some of their beer-like flavor profiles. However, I am not one that stocks an Assam as a plain black in my personal tea stash. That said, with this being a wine-infused tea an Assam base might make sense. Red wine is dry; Assam is rather dry.
The aroma coming from my sample smells mostly like cinnamon with a touch of red wine for good measure. Red Leaf Tea lists the ingredients in this as Assam black tea, licorice root with cinnamon and cabernet flavoring. I prepared my cup using water brought to a full boil and allowed to cool for a bit and infused for approximately 3.5 min. The resulting cup is quite unique and delicious. As predicted, the Assam base marries nicely with a tea that is wine infused. It is malty and dry, but not aggressively astringent. The Assam provides a rich, full-bodied backdrop for the flavor profile. The flavor profile has nuances of red wine, cinnamon and even notes of a dark semi-sweet chocolate. I would pick the cinnamon as being the most dominate of those flavors, but it does not overpower the blend. The red wine is most noticeable in the aftertaste. I did find that the longer that I drank the tea, the more wine-like it tasted to me.
Overall, I found this blend to be very sophisticated and well-done. I liked that the Assam brought the malt that I love and was dry like Red Wine. I would warn that if you are looking for a tea blend that really tastes like someone spiked your tea with wine, then you might find yourself disappointed. It is more wine-like and provides nuances of wine that make for an interesting cup of tea. This one is definitely worth consideration if you are intrigued by a red wine infused black tea. Thumbs up!
— To purchase Red Leaf Tea Assam Jungle Cabernet, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
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