Buy as much different commercial brands of Assam as you can. The taste
will be different enough to notice so you can get a better appreciation
of the malty taste profile. I think TOH is a Pinhead gunpowder. Try
the other type Imperial gunpowder. If you want to branch out in the
greens to a similar astringent taste I would recommend Young Hyson or
Chunmee. The only way to learn the taste of White tea is buy cheap
SowMee(leaf) and brew it as a slush ie lots and lots of leaf and I dare
say more than one infusion. It will be strong but still taste
delicate. It will give you a benchmark for the delicate taste of
BaiMuDan(leaf,bud) and even more ephemeral Yinzhen(bud). I like white
teas when I am in a really good mood.

Jim

Justin Holmes wrote:
> I've been drinking tea off and on for years, but only in the last few
> months started to branch out and get decent stuff. I would be
> interested to get some reccomendations based on other things I have
> tried and liked (or not liked so much).
>
> Assam- right now, I have some CTC assam, and it isn't bad, but a little
> one dimensional. Are there any must tries in this vein that offer the
> strength but a more complexity?
>
> Greens- I really enjoy Temple of Heaven Special Grade (actually been
> drinking this for years from the local asian market). Anything similar
> worth trying?
>
> White- I have some "white peony" that is perhaps too delicate and
> subtle. Are there bolder whites out there, or is this just par for the
> course?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions