Organic Darjeeling

My plans for a tea tasting extravaganza got cut short yesterday. My fiancé and I are doing P90X together, and yesterday was Day 1. At one point, he turned to me and said, “Okay are you ready to start?” And I responded, “Umm, I’m practically sloshing with tea. I think I would puke if I worked out right now.” So, what did he say next? Solution = stop drinking tea! I started to protest and he thought I was just trying to get out of the workout. So alas, I stopped drinking tea way before I wanted to.

But today is a new day, so I’m picking up where I left off! I’m a little stuffy today, which means I’m not going to be able to describe the aromas or flavors particularly well. But so far, I’m loving this Darjeeling! I’ve only tried a bagged Darjeeling from Twinings once and it was awful. I’ve been afraid of trying it again ever since. But this is great!

It reminds me of Bailin Gongfu and Yunnan Dian Hong, with this being somewhere in between. I’m excited that I can enjoy this sans additions because that’s a rare event for me and black tea. I think I also might be starting to understand what muscatel means in a tea. It does slightly remind me of grapes and wine. But it’s also still prominently TEA. Time for a second steep!

This infusion was for 3 minutes, and I added skim milk and Truvia right away. Mmm, still delicious! Now I understand the hype over Darjeeling. This is a thoroughly enjoyable cuppa. Smooth and bright with no bitterness or even astringency to speak of. Thank you LiberTEAS for sharing this and re-opening my world to Darjeeling teas!

This is one from the box of teas I bought from LiberTeas a year or so ago. As I think we all know by now, I’m not even remotely punctual in my tea-drinking but I get around to everything at one point or another. Dry, this has a jammy smell, very sweet and berry-ish without being able to name a specific aroma.

Steeped, I have a shockingly orange liquor with a relatively simple black tea smell but a delicious and complex taste. It’s tea, yes, but that berry/fruit/jam aroma I got from the dry leaf has translated beautifully into the steeped taste. I am not sure what muscat smells/tastes like but I like to hope that it is the ‘jamminess.’ I get a sense of bitterness that never fully develops, and quickly fades out to the sweet fruit I’m enjoying.

The leaves in my pouch are a bit more ragged than I might prefer, but they are large enough to avoid undue astringency, so they’re good enough. This is actually a pretty good tea – I know almost nothing about darjeelings so I don’t know if this is a good example of what they are or is a bit lower quality, either way it’s pretty tasty!

This is another tea that Doulton sent to me. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to try it, because I love a good Darjeeling! Thank you Doulton!

This has a fantastic muscatel note to it – reminding me very much of a crisp, dry wine. Sweet, fruit-like essence (a smooth mixture of black currants and sweet grapes) with a bitter notation just nearing the end of the sip. A drying astringency. A very bright flavor – delicious! A great Darjeeling for those who are fond of Darjeeling tea!

Thanks LiberTEAs!

This is one of the better Darjeelings I have tried! It’s smoother than most. It still has that little bit of masculinity to it but it’s a fine tasting Darjeeling! A few extra points for being Organic!

Nothing like a good Darjeeling on a crisp fall day. I drank two whole pots of this stuff today. Delish!

Check out our video-review here: http://healthyprofessionals.blog.com/2011/06/16/the-tea-show-episode-13-california-tea-houses-organic-darjeeling/

Soooooo gooooood!

Has a distinct flavor…..but the only reason i bought this was because of a movie