David's Darjeeling

Thank you Jason for this BIG Sample!

My granddaughters (18,17,15) are sitting and watching Gladiator on my big screen TV as I write.

I served them some (Tangerine Creamsicle) tea already and had some myself but now I wanted more. (I’ve also seen Gladiator a zillion times!)

What could be better than blood, swords and tea?!

Jason kindly sent a nice hefty sample of this Darjeeling which I was ready to try.
The scent of the liquor was such a heady floral mix of orange blossom, jasmine and wet bamboo steaming and curling up into my face. I took a cup around for each of the girls to smell. Ummmmm. Smelled good to them. Approval!
I took a sip and noticed how light and brisk the flavor was at first. There was no astringency and the flavor was naturally sweet with a light bergamot taste.
As the cup cooled it became creamy and thickened. I added sweetening and swooned. Oh the exotic Indian winds blew through me…a monsoon of delightful floral tea.

I commented to the girls that this would be a proper tea to take on a Yurt trip (people of all ages go stay in Yurts Colorado. Youth groups, even the Senior Center has Yurt trips!) This and an Assam would do well.

DAVIDsTea has successfully created a blended darjeeling to take the guesswork away for people who just want to drink tea and not study first flush, second flush…and flushes that don’t make sense to many people.

Very enjoyable!

My first foray into darjeeling tea, I was quite pleased with this. I’ve read that Darjeelings can be a little confusing with first flush, etc etc. and I’ll admit that that’s part of what has kept me from trying them myself. This has been noted as a good beginner’s darjeeling and I think I quite agree!

The aroma that greeted me as this tea steeped was woodsy, slightly roasted and made me think of warm grains. The flavor was astringent but not overpoweringly so, with notes of spinach and light grains. It was crisp and made me think of walking through the woods in autumn and feeling the leaves crunch beneath your feet. At the end I get gentle notes of wine like flavor (unsure of an adjective to describe it other than that as I am not all that knowledgeable in wines).

Over all a very enjoyable tea that makes me want venture out to try more Darjeeling varieties!

I haven’t ventured much into the realm of Darjeeling teas. But I happened to grabbed a handful of sample sized teas today on my way out the door and this was one of them. It smells like well like I’m in the woods and NOT at my desk…for one. This one is not as astringent as the other (maybe two) Darjeeling teas I’ve had. Which is good I’m not a fan of that at all.

It almost reminds me of a stout, heavy, rich, etc. Which is great considering I can’t have beer anymore (stupid gluten). I fear there may be a David’s order in the future. That is the only “problem” with trying new teas…you risk liking them and wanting more and more of it!

Last sample that I got with my DAVIDsTEA order.

First off, let me say that I’m not a huge fan of Darjeelings. I do really enjoy some, but a lot are really gross to me.

I won’t say this is gross, but it certainly isn’t one I enjoy. It has a very stereotypical Darjeeling taste and aroma. Very musty and woody. The word that this tea invokes in my mind is “damp.” That’s really all I can think of when I taste it…. I have a bad habit of adding milk and sugar (or Truvia/Stevia) to my unflavored black teas when I have them in the morning, and I did that here. If anything, I think the milk and stevia makes me like it even less. Right now, it’s like a liquid form of must and that is really unappealing to me.

Bottom line, I don’t think I’ll ever try this one again.

This one is really rich of flavor. Mild-spicy mild-earthy with a fruity after-taste.

First of all, I can feel the fresh breath from all the Indian leaves.
The flavors became more clear as you drink it, at first impression it seems like a nice black tea. As you sip and the temperature drop, you feel the lovable muscat flavor.

This have a fresh earthy taste perfectly balanced with the spice.
The aftertaste is fruity, it’s really subtile.

I NEED MORE OF IT.

Impressive!! I’ve never seen such a musty tea, let alone a Darjeeling. I added milk and agave but I think I’ll actually buy some of this and experimnent with/without the additions.
Something tells me this rating will be bumped up shortly! I’ll write a better review then, as there was too much going on for me to pay adequate attention. Overall, this gets a big YUM!!

I was a huge white Darjeeling fan already, but from time to time I get black Darjeeling samples and enjoy them just the same. There’s something about that woodsy warmth, that sweet aftertaste, that I enjoy so much and that makes Darjeelings great ’’celebration’’ teas.

This one is no exception. It is gorgeous, David. Nice muscat flavor developping. I might stock.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ 95C. Steeped 4 minutes. Drunk bare.

A bit dark for a Darjeeling, which tells me there’s likely second and even third flush leaves in this blend. Earthy, though not pu-ehr earthy. Not as much muscatel as I like. Threatens bitterness at a 4-minute steep. Not my favourite Darjeeling. I’d take Stash’s Darjeeling Summer over this one.

Another sample from Mercuryhime’s collection – thanks so much! This has an airy yet crusty aroma that I really love! The flavor is wonderful! It’s not as stingy-astringent as some darjeelings can be…it’s sweeter and creamier…I LOVE that!!! It’s not bitter and the end-sip/aftertaste is mesmerizing!

Backlogging this from .. well the last 3 days. I’m getting addicted to this tea! I received it as a sample and used it all in 3 days. It’s delicious, especially when I don’t want a sweet or flavored tea and I was abble to get 3 steep each time I drank it!

And I don’t know why but it reminded me of spinach pasta… In a good way ;)! The ’’sweetness’’ of the pasta and the bitterness of the spinach.

So I don’t know anything about Darjeerling except that it’s a complicated black tea, but I liked the smell of it so I gave it a try. The “truly the champagne of teas” tagline caught my attention too, and as I’m impressionable like that I always think about that as I sip. Classy! :P

It smells really good. The description just says that it is made of “Estate Black Teas” but it smells like there’s more than that in there. I haven’t really developed a palatte for this yet either, so I while I can say that I really enjoy the taste of it, I can’t really describe it.

But… “Truly the champagne of teas” + a rich black that goes down smoothly without milk and sugar means that this will probably be a staple in my cupboard for a while.

Maybe I’ll update this review once I get a better idea of what it tastes like. :D

(Medium caffeine)

A sample of this came in my recent order, and I gave it a spin this morning. Not bad, but didn’t leave a particularly big impression (however, I ate some kimchi before drinking this and my taste buds were likely overwhelmed). It was nice and refreshing but also a little more peppery than I was wanting. I went on a bit of a Darjeeling streak a couple months ago and perhaps either over-did it or became accustomed to the greener first flush varieties I was drinking.

The dry leaves smell pleasant, and a bit enchanting. I’m inexperienced with Darjeeling teas so I can’t comment on quality. Looking inside the bag, the tea is a variety of colors: dark gray, dark red/brown, and yellow/silver.

I’ve heard that this variety of tea is very astringent and it didn’t disappoint. Not something I’d want to end my day on, but enjoyable on this morning. I steeped this twice, first at 4 minutes and then 6 minutes. The second cup was still flavorful and had a crispness to it.

i’ve been watching too much bbc so i was craving a nice big cup of straight black tea and some biscuits!
rifling through my stash i found a sample of this jem. mmmm, so perfect right now. i can barely describe it, just a nice, solid, warming cup of tea.
delicious.

Morning tea! I find this one naturally pretty sweet, with a musty sort of background. It’s not the brightest black tea, but it’s pleasant. A nice start to the day. I did a second steep for 5 minutes and it was good too.

There aren’t a lot of Darjeeling teas that can disappoint, as it is most commonly heralded as the champagne of teas. This tea does not disappoint as well.

It is a blend of “the season’s best estate offerings”, which gives it a truly complex and distinct flavor. It is lightly creamy and a slight tinge of sweet, with no bitter taste in sight. It is also extremely refreshing with so much air to breath around it’s woodsy aroma.

Oh, the aroma! Such a perfect reflection of color and taste, you feel you are on mountaintops breathing fresh clean breezes through dense forests.

This is one of the reasons Darjeeling teas are my favorite among teas.

I enjoyed this one. I liked the blend of the teas, and did find it astringent, which I’m discovering I really like in my blacks for my morning pick-me-up. As the cup cooled it changed flavour slightly and gave me similar hints to what I enjoy in Red Rose. The Kenyan from Davids will still be my black looseleaf, but I can see me grabbing some of this as well for times when I want to play with blends. Am curious what it will do if I add some milk, now, as well.

Not a fan of this tea. Black tea is my least favorite, although there are some that I find very tasty. This was not one of them.

I actually steeped this Darjeeling at a much lower temperature as I like my high-altitude teas steeped that way, and it was most excellent. It was musty and had a very fruity \‘GRAPE\’ kind of note to it. It was so utterly delicious and i drank the whole cup naked, and had another. Even when the tea was cooled, it retained the deliciousness throughout and it was very pleasant over all. Buying a tin.

Oh, Oh WOW!

This tea was in my to-go cup yesterday and WOW! I must’ve steeped this one perfectly because it was so good, so-good! That I did not have to add milk or cream or anything to it really. And I actually finished the entire cup! When I get to work the kids are so busy that I usually forget my tea and end up sipping it cold and if it is black I make a “sour pinchy face” (or what the kids call the: we’re not eating that for snack face")… No I clutched this travel mug to my body until the last drop!

I don’t remember what it tasted like, but oh dear God, I just know that if it was good enough for me to hold on to until the last drop, I know it is good enough to take the next empty tin into DAVIDs and ask for 100g of this!