Sonaibari Second Flush
The malt note comes from the assamica leaf itself, not the processing — the same steps on a Darjeeling bush give a different tea entirely.
Assam grows a genuinely different plant to Darjeeling: Camellia sinensis var. assamica, a broader, thicker leaf native to the Brahmaputra floodplain rather than the China-type bushes planted in the Himalayan foothills. At 90 metres of elevation and inside a hot, humid lowland climate, the bush grows fast and the leaf is correspondingly heartier — which is most of the reason Assam tea tastes malty and full-bodied where a Darjeeling from identical processing would not.
Second flush, picked through the wettest and warmest months of the year, is considered the estate’s best: strong enough to hold its own against milk, which is exactly what most Assam is bought for.
Fully withered, hard-rolled (CTC or orthodox depending on lot), oxidized near-completely, then fired.