I am excited to show you all today some Oregon grown tea! Minto Island is a tea farm in Willamette Valley in Western Oregon that produces small batch teas, as well as tea plants for purchase.
They have an assortment of different teas, but I went with the Minto Island Black tea. Right on the box, it says when it was harvested – June 4th, 2018.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaves are quite light and full, taking a lot of space in the gaiwan. The leaves oddly smell like pumpkin spice.
I used 1 gram of leaf to 15ml vessel size, making for a tight fit in the gaiwan. I’m fearless with this black tea, so boiling water it is for gongfu style steeping. The wet leaves smell like spice and fruit, strangely like a Taiwanese sun moon lake with a dash of cloves.
Tasting of Minto Island Black Tea from Oregon
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Minto Island Black is an interesting mesh of flavors. It is a yam noted black tea with notes of cloves and juicy fruits. It is like I took a Taiwanese Sun Moon Lake and added spiced yams. Some sips have a squash note as well. The flavor is bright and sweet, with a balmy feeling left in the mouth. Aftertaste is more spice and squash.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: It is a pretty consistent tasting tea despite the gongfu style multiple infusions with the high amount of leaf. It is still fruity, yammy, spicy. Minto Island Black has not gotten astringent or bitter. This black also lacks a brisk or tannic bite of other black teas.
Seventh Infusion: I power steeped the last infusion for 12 minutes to get the rest of the tea out. It was lighter than the other infusions but did have a touch of bitterness at the end of the sip.
Grandpa style: I used 5 grams of leaf in a 200ml vessel, topped with 200F water as I sipped away. Minto Island black is exceptionally brothy, yammy, cinnamon, and sweet. It has taken a beating and has not gotten dry, tannic, or bitter. It is like a Thanksgiving hug in a cup. I prefer it grandpa style, but this is an expensive tea to treat like this.
Comments
I am thoroughly impressed by how good Minto Island Oregon grown tea is. The Minto Island Black tea is flavorful and complex, but also fairly easy to steep. However, the flavor doesn’t change much for gongfu style so I prefer this tea grandpa and I am sure it would western style well too. It is quite unique in taste, so if you are a black tea fan or like to try excellent USA grown tea, this is your ticket.
They do have a green tea (and oolong but wasn’t available at the time), but I more of a black tea person so I purchased the black tea over the green. At this time all the tea is sold out online, though tea plants are still available.
My little tea plant from Minto Island is doing great and loves eating other teas for breakfast… including fellow Minto Island black leaf. Though I doubt mine will taste as good due to soil and noob owl gardening conditions, I am hopeful.
