This Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto Black tea was a tea drunk purchase as I’m easy to upsell tea drunk with money burning in my pocket. I was at the World Tea Expo after party at Tea and Whisk. Lazy Literatus saw this tea and I bought it as I was like “This is nuts, what the hoot smokes guavas?” It turned out it is guava tree wood that is the smoking of this Malawi tea. I got to try it but iced, blended with some other teas, which the owner said he does to take the edge off the smoke. Iced, the Thyolo Moto was smokey but was delicious, at least my tea drunk mind thought so.
I generally dislike smokey teas unless the smoke adds complexity and is not the main flavor. I hate smoked lapsang souchong and only use it for cooking. However, tea smoked over guava trees is weird enough to want to drink and write about.
Leaf and Steeping Method
Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto smells like a smoke bomb, but not melting tire fire bad. Placed into a hot gaiwan, it has notes of ashtray. Oh boy what did I do, why did I buy this?
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeping in boiling water starting with flash infusions. I tend to use more leaf for black teas, but with this smokey of the tea, I went cautiously.
However, the hot wet leaf smells promising as it smells like a Taiwanese Sun Moon Lake with spicy cinnamon.
Tea & Whisk’s Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto Black tea
First, Second, and Third Infusion: What a surprising taste! Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto is a fruity black tea that is sweet and smooth but with an ashy smoke background. The smoke level moderately high, but not sharp or ashtray like.
I dig the smooth sweet slickness of this tea, it’s like gargling creamy melted butter, juicy mouthwatering mystery fruit, then a contrast of smoke. There is an aftertaste of more juicy fruit.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: The smoothness continues with a salivating fruity smooth tea. It is starting to taste more like it smells, like a sun moon lake, with a cinnamon spice buzz, and a background of smoke as contrast. The finish on these infusions is interesting as it has a spicy hit.
Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: Thyolo took a dive coming out astringent all of a sudden. It is dry on the tongue and throat. The notes are still similar with fruity sweet smoke, but the loss of slick tea to dry, combined with the dry, makes it unpleasant. The aftertaste is a powdery dryness in my mouth, along with that spicy smoke bite. With each steeping the tea gets more and more unpleasantly dry. I think there’s still more in it, but it’s hella dry for me wanting to continue.
The steeped out leaf has a purple tinge to it.
Comments
Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto Black is a strikingly unique smoked black tea. The fruit salivation and complex elements are very good in this tea. The smoke isn’t ashtray or tire fire bad but starts to contrast badly when the tea gets astringent in the later infusions. Either way, six tasty infusions is great.
If you love smokey teas, try and get your hands on this black tea!
