Darjeeling Steinthal

In my limited experience with Darjeeling first flush teas this is probably the most herbal FF I’ve tasted. It’s crisper and it lacks the sweetness that previous FFs I’ve tried have, and it reminds me of a dry, unoaked white wine. It’s more like a later season darjeeling tea in my opinion, with a distinct muscatel character. I can also taste a fair bit of astringency although it’s not excessive and the tea doesn’t have that mouth-drying effect that later season Darjeelings have on me.

Backlogged… I tired this one yesterday and I can say I really enjoyed it. In a word…“fresh” I will purchase this at some point and to be honest the description provide hits it on the head. Delicious!

Wow, almost 100 notes.

If a Darjeeling can taste herbal, this is it. It is surprising how much herbal flavor it has. I’m getting almost something like green tea mixed with herbs and with a Darjeeling brisk bitterness in the end. I don’t mean it in the bad sense though, it is weird but pleasant overall. I quite enjoy it with desserts but can’t drink much without something accompanying it.

This tea is harsh for sure, but in a freshly “green” way (as the description gives way to). You get the herbaceous aroma right off the bat on the front of the palate. Shortly followed with a sharp bite on the sides and rear, a heavy briskness, this tea lingers with an intensity that some tea drinkers may not enjoy. A light edge of muscatel flavor is also noticeable. I complimented this tea with a stronger, fuller bodied tea that provides a clean finish (South Indian Parkside http://su.pr/).

Addendum: Photos (http://twitpic.com/rcfxu http://twitpic.com/rcgq8 http://twitpic.com/rcgw7) and videos (http://qik.ly/sJ3W http://qik.ly/sJXv).