Arya Pearl Darjeeling First Flush 2012

Where to start…

Oh yes.

Today was a far busier day than anticipated. I was up far too late the night before catching up on reruns of Once Upon a Time. (Seriously, that show’s amazing.) I mean to roust by 10AM, but that turned into more like…after noon. The final wake-up call was a literal call from my mother informing me of a job fair.

I did that, I applied for food stamps, I went to a work resource center. And I did all with little or no caffeine. I didn’t have my first cup of tea until the end of my poor-man errands – a meager teabagged Ceylon in a travel mug. (It was okay…but lukewarm by the time I got to it.)

When I came home, feeling like the poverty-stricken, out-of-work schmo that I was…I decided it was time for something highbrow. Ain’t nothing more highbrow than a Darjeeling white – let alone a Darj-white from Arya’s “jewel tea” collection. Lucky for me, it was perfect…and…

I felt like a raj.

If only for an afternoon.

In a sweater and khaki pants.

Full review: Pending on www.teaviews.com

A beautiful tea with a fascinating flavor. The leaves are a nice fresh-looking green, with little sign of any rough handling. The taste is perhaps too mild – my first steep, I wasn’t sure if I was drinking tea or the idea of tea. My second steep, I’ve left the leaves in the cup – no straining (I’ve enjoyed a number of whiter teas this way). Even so, the liquor has only the slightest tint to it. The flavor is still fairly mild, but it’s definitely easier to enjoy this way. I get primarily a lemon-ness – more tangy lemon zest than the lemon fruit itself, but slightly floral, so maybe what a lemon blossom might taste like, and also a slight creamy melon-y quality.

I’m not rating this a full 100%, and it’s not quite the best tea I’ve ever had, but I’m not sure why. It seems practically perfect in every way.