Darjeeling Song

Thanks to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe for this sample tea!

This was a new experience for me. I’d never had a flavored Darjeeling before. Every other kind of tea, Oolong, Black, Green, Pu’er flavored and blended but for some reason never a Darjeeling.

Janet didn’t hold back from being creative, and decided to make a lovely Darjeeling Black Tea blend with cardamom, fenugreek and vanilla bean. All Organic.

What I tasted was very similar to a Chai but without any heavy spiciness. The cardamom was mild but the strength increased and warmed the tea as it cooled. The vanilla was smooth and rich, taming the natural tendency of Darjeeling to be astringent.

This tea was good straight with no additions, but with cream and honey it stepped up and was a very good cup of tea.

This tea is very good to me, I haven’t had many Darjeeling teas but I really like this one, the aroma is like vanilla citrus and the taste is like a really nice black tea with citrus zest and vanilla notes and the aftertaste is interesting to me hard to describe, it’s a slightly astringent aftertaste that has almost a peppery bite. I could drink this one very often.

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I think it was Azzrian who sent me some of this! Thanks so much! At first I thought it was just a regular darjeeling but it’s FLAVORED! Woot! I really like the vanilla, here. The cardamom is nice, too, it’s NOT over done at all and adds that little bit to rustic spice to it. Very nice!

This is a strong tea, strong smelling and strong brewing.

I have to admit at first sip I was afraid I would hate this tea. I tried a spoonful right after steeping it, no milk or sugar and it was horrible, absolutely horrible! I added milk and a little sugar and my second sip was a little better. I waited a few minutes before taking another sip and it was really, really good. As the tea sat and cooled a little the cardamon and vanilla must have been doing something together and made the tea a lot smoother and more pleasant to drink.

The second steeping was even better than the first, the cardamon was not weakened and I could feel the spice prickling on my tongue. I had some M&M cookies to dip in the tea and it was amazing.

The tea even stood up to a third steeping. It was starting to get weaker but I think I might have even managed a fourth steeping but it’s getting late and I don’t want the caffeine keeping me up all night.