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“I’ve flip-flopped over whether I was ever going to try David’s straight teas. I mean, I’ve always intended to, but I can never quite get my mouth to name any of the classics, when it has the...” Read full tasting note
“After a surprising number of cups my twenty gram sample is almost entirely gone and I am left with a slightly higher opinion than when I started. I am not one to add sugar or milk to my tea but 1/8...” Read full tasting note
“I went on an oolong binge a couple of months ago, I pretty much bought anything that was called an oolong. It is very obvious to me now that I should have done a little research first, tried a...” Read full tasting note
“This afternoon’s lunch tea. I’ve steeped it with a little bit of lavender and coconut (less lavender, more coconut) and it’s just like it suppose to be… fragrant and yummy.” Read full tasting note
Second nature
Darjeeling is known as the “champagne” of teas: if it doesn’t come from India’s Darjeeling region, you aren’t allowed to use the name. That might be why the best Darjeelings taste just like the mountains they were grown on. While the first leaves in the spring tend to be delicate and almost green in flavour, second flush Darjeelings generally have a richer, darker taste. This one is bright, woodsy and earthy, with notes of honey, fresh mushrooms and meadow flowers – like a forest getaway in a cup.
Ingredients: Second flush Darjeeling tea (grade FTGFOP 1) from Darjeeling, India.
DavidsTea is a Canadian specialty tea and tea accessory retailer based in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest Canadian-based specialty tea boutique in the country, with its first store having opened in 2008.
so im not usually a big fan of black teas but ive started to come to appreciate black teas so i took a trip down to davidstea and grabbed a few blacks to try
this was the first one i decided to have as my morning wake up cupe :)
first smell: definitely some honey and earthy notes. i took a sip and right away you could taste the earthy undertones. there might be some floral and honey notes but none that are jump-in-your-face noticeable. this one is a very nice black tea with very little astringency which is nice :)
ive tried a few blacks lately and so far ive liked most of them so wish me luck on my journey!!
if you have any suggestions let me know :)
ps: i had a mixup on teas :/ oops!!
Hello, Me from 2 years in the past! Present day me is here to update the tasting note for this tea.
Found a couple sample bags when I was cleaning my stash out this weekend. They’d be the same samples left over from 2 years ago when I bought 3-4 on sale and drank 1-2.
So this tea is OLD.
I figured I may as well drink it anyway, so I made a cup earlier and drank it on my lunch break.
I accidentally got distracted throwing out a bunch of old crap at work and forgot about it, it probably steeped 8-10 minutes, instead of the recommended 5.
Given that this is
A) ollllld tea
B) oversteeped
It was surprisingly not even that bad. I added milk, because that’s how I roll. Even though I remember reading online a long time ago that only ignorant tea newbs put milk in Darjeeling tea. I also love A&D Damn Fine Tea’s Red Tailed Hawk with a sploosh of milk in it, so calculate your logical deductions accordingly. I’m a loner, Dottie, a REBEL.
This girl is not refined.
Anyway, it tasted alright, had the classic Darjeeling notes, but far from being the best i’ve tried. Bungalow is one I’d love to get my hands on.
Me from the Past had rated this 72 once upon a time 2 years ago…. surprisingly I’m going to leave it there, because I’m somewhat impressed at how I managed to not totally destroy the cup I made earlier. Oversteeping AND the fact that I don’t have a temperature controlled kettle at work and normally Darjeelings get all bitter if the water is too hot. PLus the fact that being old didn’t make it nasty.
So…….. that’s a hearty endorsement from me! About as hearty as you will get, for such a Davidstea.
This one definitely likes cooler water. Sometimes I forget that and make it taste bad. I do like it when I am careful though.
I suspect the kettle at work doesn’t reach the boiling point, even when it’s “boiled”, so that probably ultimately saved my cuppa :)
You had me at your Pee Wee reference. <3 lol
lol (and, you do what you WANT with your tea! :) )
I love milk in my tea. Love it! If that makes me uncultured, so be it. :)
I hear that :)
And yes! Peewee! Was equally enthralled with and terrified by that movie as a kid
I took that movie so seriously… I was incredibly upset that he could not track down his bicycle. lol Now, as an adult, I totally get it, and can watch without getting all nervous and upset (my kids thought it was hysterical that I took that movie seriously as a child).
The truck driver lady… horrified me.
And the dancing scene in the biker bar – best ever!
I suspect today’s kids just won’t understand PeeWee. They’re supposed to be bringing a new movie or something to Netflix I seem to recall reading!
Honey, mushroom, woody and astringent. I compared this to Butiki’s Giddapahar Darjeeling Extra Special and I found I liked DavidsTea better…gasp! Only by a small amount, I found the DavidsTea had a more velvet taste to it and the sweetness shines through just a hint more than Butiki’s. This was a cup to cup test and the teas were brewed as instructed by the Makers.
Went back and bought a tin. Definitely tasting the ‘woodsy’ flavor that was advertised. It’s quite nice.
Well, my quest today has been to tick off as many straight blacks as I can. Third one of the day. Hopefully I can fit in 2 more (I do have a late night of studying ahead). I chose this one because I wanted to determine if it was the Darjeeling in David’s Organic Breakfast that I wasn’t liking.
It smells great – like a black tea haha.
Oh my. That flavour is very distinct. And unfortunately I don’t think it’s for me. Though I’m also not sure if that’s what was bothering me in David’s Organic Breakfast. Hmm. I’ll have to ponder on that as I finish this cup.
This is… so good. Thank you Stephanie for the sample, I finally got around to it. Second flush > first flush. This is just so fruity! Like strawberry and lychee. There’s a small amount of floral. I have a couple of first flush darjeelings in the cupboard and this blows them all away. More bold, more fruit, mo’ flava.
Lowered the rating a bit from the second cup.
I tried this again this morning and a lot of the flavours I thought there was in my first cup were not there in this one. Makes me think I just hadn’t washed the cup (entirely likely) and was tasting aftertastes from the cup previous. Sure, the tea is still good (at least, as far as straight black teas since I don’t usually like them) but not as good as I originally thought. If I was going to buy a straight black this would still be it, but I don’t usually intend on buying straight black teas.
Still glad I had it as a sample, though.
My last review of this one a year ago was a bit… ADD… I started off saying I liked it and by the end of the review I was like… yeah… I don’t know if I’d drink it much. Well, I thought I better try it again as it was a sample I got with my last order.
It’s fine, but Darjeelings aren’t my thing I don’t think. I’ve had this one before and I had another one I bought in Ottawa and that one wasn’t too bad, but again, it really wasn’t my thing. I’m definitely noticing that it is a woody tea that is quite strong in flavour. It has an almost malty taste to it… almost?
Either way, it’s not for me… Sorry tea.
Sample package label:
“This Darjeeling is a bright, woodsy and earthy, with notes of honey, fresh mushrooms and meadow flower. Parve.
1.25 teaspoon, 98*C (208*F), 5 min.”
Per http://www.davidstea.com/second-flush-darjeeling?&TF=77477126A52D&DEID=:
“Darjeeling is known as the “champagne” of teas: if it doesn’t come from India’s Darjeeling region, you aren’t allowed to use the name. That might be why the best Darjeelings taste just like the mountains they were grown on. While the first leaves in the spring tend to be delicate and almost green in flavour, second flush Darjeelings generally have a richer, darker taste. This one is bright, woodsy and earthy, with notes of honey, fresh mushrooms and meadow flowers – like a forest getaway in a cup.
Ingredients
Second flush Darjeeling tea (grade FTGFOP 1) from Darjeeling, India.
How to prepare
1 tsp / 98°C / 208°F / 5 min”
Heated to 212*F and allowed to cool to 208*F – verified with DAVIDsTEA digital thermometer
Steeped the entire 5 g tea sample in 12-oz for 5 minutes, then poured two six ounce servings.
Tasted without sweeteners, milk or cream.
The tea had a light woodsy/earthy fragrance.
Amber brown hue
First Infusion – 5-min:
This tea a light woodsy/earthy fragrance. It’s a full-bodied tea without any bitterness and a clean fresh finish. There was a slight but pleasurable hint of astringency.
2nd Infusion – 6-min:
A tad less full-bodied, with a slight trace of astringency but just as enjoyable as the first cup.
3rd Infusion – 7-min:
Too weak for an enjoyable 3rd infusion.
Impression: An excellent, full-bodied tea without any bitterness, a mild pleasurable astringency and a clean fresh finish. Well Done!
Thanks to DAVIDsTEA for providing this free sample.
