gurdymonkey | Tea time: Daily Assam and Daily Darjeeling from Vahdam India

I wasn't going to open this, seeing as I had so much tea in the house, but after a week of wimpy, lackluster black teas from Portland, I wanted a big old mug of Brown Leaf Juice.

I reviewed two Vahdam teas last year, including their aspirational, reminiscent-of-Harrods green and gold packaging. You can read what I thought of their Assam Exotic here.

Their Daily Assam is a second flush tea, which means it's picked in the summertime. (First flush teas are usually picked in very late winter to springtime and are prized for freshness and delicacy of flavor.) I can see why they grade this as a "daily" choice. Its happy place is a 212F brew for five minutes, resulting in a hearty reddish brown brew. It's robust without bitterness, just a slight astringency.

Second steep of same leaves holds flavor just fine and I'm getting a slight sweetness at the end of each sip that's very nice.

Compared to the Assam Exotic (which their website currently only has in tea bags, so I suspect last year's batch has sold out), it's not as fruity. The Exotic is rightly a bit more special, but this is a perfectly nice tea for regular use and is probably going to end up being one of my at-work staple teas.

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By midafternoon, I'd had three cups of the Daily Assam and decided to break into the Daily Darjeeling. Again, this is a second flush/summer harvest tea. Lighter than the Assam with a very nice sweet/astringent balance on the finish after a 212F/5 minute steep. Their first flush Darjeeling has a much greener, citrusy profile, but this is a very nice tea as well and I think this one is going into my desk as well. Both of these should do well as they gradually cool in the cup as inevitably happens on a work day with a tall travel flask and would work iced as well.

Price point on these daily teas was reasonable as well. $9.99 for the Darjeeling and $6.99 for the Assam, 3.5 oz package/50 cups.