thanks Nicole for sending this one! I think you found a better home for a bit of this, because it might be my favorite darjeeling. (Though I’m a bit confused on if this tea is from 2001 or 2011 as the label on my tea says 2011… if it is from 2001, this tea has aged wonderfully! I steeped this for five minutes after it had cooled a bit. The leaves have unraveled to a nice mahogany color. I complained on my last darjeeling tea review that I didn’t like the usual darjeeling flavor. This one is very unique! It kind of tastes like a darjeeling, an oolong, and a deeper black tea all at the same time. One sip it will taste like an oolong and the next it will taste like a maltier black tea. Interesting! At first I thought I was just tasting cream because I was eating banana soymilk oatmeal with the tea (that reminds me of a banana cream pie), but now it tastes kind of spicy. I really like this one!
2 Tasting Notes
Hm. Can’t find a website for The Crumpet Shop in Pike Place Market, Seattle. Can’t find this tea by this name anywhere else in a quick search. The best I can find is that Tiger Hill is the highest spot in the Darjeeling district as well as one of the better tea estates in the region. I see it listed as a Nilgiri in a couple of places.
Maybe this was an old batch that wasn’t stored well. I get nothing out of this besides dusty tea. This cup I am reviewing is my 5th attempt at getting a good cup. I’ve tried different temperature water, rinsing the leaves before steeping, different steep times… This one is drinkable but nothing special. It still tastes somewhat dusty and old. I think I can discern some faint muscatel notes underneath… It’s always possible that my tastebuds just have no idea what they have here, too. Maybe this is a very high quality Darjeeling (though it was a medium price) and I just don’t know it. Maybe other, more discerning palates will find this more appealing than I do.
It’s definitely better cold than it is hot, even though when cold some bitterness comes out. I’ll keep it for a cold tea, but chances are good it may be rehomed to try and find a better taster for it than I am. :)
