Quietly nicking a spoonful of this from my housemate while he’s away… It’s too good to resist.
Unfortunately today I have some cold symptoms so the taste is affected quite a bit, especially considering it’s something as light as a TGFOP darjeeling, but it turned out delicious nonetheless! Recently, also, Twinings UK put up a guide to professional tea tasting on their website: http://twinings.co.uk/about-our-tea/how-to-taste-tea As I have to taste teas for work I’m going to try using this kind of vocabulary and guide from here on out. So with my inability-to-smell-handicap, here are my thoughts today:
This darjeeling brews very very light. A good teaspoonful with boiling water didn’t brew to an amber for quite some time, remaining golden for a few minutes (I tend to judge when a tea is ready by its colour- perhaps something I should avoid doing in future after this?), and having left it has possibly made it more astringent and dry than is normal for this tea. It’s toasty and light without that heavy roasted taste of many black teas, due to its quality I should think, and the toastiness comes towards a floral flavour, even very slightly hops-like and edging into wood flavours. It is really, however, very dry and bitter towards the end.
I’m rounding this off with a little unsweetened soy milk as the tannins are proving too much for me at the end of a tiring day, but lighter, with an afternoon tea, I think this tea could be taken black perfectly!
