Darjeeling Tea

On my way to a conference. Can you sense the excitement? O.o

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch, and I asked for hot tea. The waitress brought out two bags of this with a mug of hot water, and a little pot of more water. I steeped for about 3 minutes, and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Couldn’t really make notes about what I tasted, but I’ve tucked the second bag in my purse to have later!!

Hot tea with milk and sugar at Cracker Barrel was a nice complement to a hearty breakfast with my visiting in-laws. I was pleasantly surprised that they serve Twinings Darjeeling. I was expecting Lipton, Luzianne, or at best Bigelow — something plain and/or Southern, not something “exotic” and British!

I’m not sure why this tea appears twice on Steepster, so I’m just going to post the same review under both of them.

I first tried a bagged Darjeeling tea from Lupicia. It was a Second Flush and pretty light. I probably watered it down too much, which I tend to do sometimes with Lupicia teas.

But this Twinings bagged version was a completely different experience, and not for the better! This wasn’t watered down at all. It created a nice brown liquor and seemed to be a normal cup of tea. I drank it straight without milk or sweetener.

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but I did not like its taste at all. It’s hard for me to pinpoint what it is I don’t like. I think it’s just the taste of the tea itself. It’s not that it’s bitter or astringent. It just tastes…not good.

The first sip is unassuming, average, black tea. But then it’s just yucky. I couldn’t finish my cup. But my boyfriend drank his and the rest of mine down and said, “It just tastes like tea. I don’t know what you don’t like about it.” And neither do I.

But this is not one I’d buy again. Now I want to try the Lupicia version again for further taste comparison.

Anyone know why this is called the “champagne of teas”? It does elicit the same reaction from me as champagne: Blech. I’ll give it that.

Okay well, been a while, right? But I had a cup of this once I woke up. It’s not my first taste of it. I’ve been sipping this tea whilst doing the morning paper’s cryptograms for about a week now. So I’ve had time to think.

The liquor is a dirty rust color. It has a dry sour taste, plenty of a polyphenols cranking up the astringency. And don’t say I steeped it too long, I did not. I’ve tried plenty of different times. The aroma is tanned leather, sprinkled with cinnamon.

I’m not a fan of black tea. I don’t like weak tea. I do not care for weak black tea. But this is acceptable. I rate this with Irish Breakfast, although I like it almost a tad bit better.

This is one of the tea’s that I was given for my birthday. I am drinking this tea and eating some left over birthday cake (twas my birthday yesterday) . Such a nice way to end the day ^_

I do not have any sweetener or creamer for the analysis of this tea.

Colour: Soy sauce, a very dark brown.
Smell: The very floral and unmistakable fragrance of Darjeeling. It smells as fresh as a green tea but with much more floralness and yet slightly bitter.

Taste: A decent cup of tea overall, what I expected from Twinings. Quite fresh but not the best as it leaves a slight bitter after taste, a little too bitter considering the full flavour altogether. That could be taken away nicely with half a spoon of sugar (much more than that and you would miss the full flavour of the darjeeling). Perhaps a little milk instead of the sugar would suffice. I shall try that next time. A nice cup of darjeeling though for those of us who do not always have the time to brew from fresh leaves.

Overall I would say it’s very relaxing and so easy to make meaning that you could transport this everywhere (work, home, friends house etc). It also goes lovely with my birthday cake…I think this is a must have at work tomorrow towards the end of the day.

mmmm …deep, full, flavor…they say the best..it is very good for sure.

One of my favourite teas, tastes fresh and has many delicate notes.

Light in color, light in flavor. Astonishingly good for something you can buy at the supermarket. Darjeeling tea is almost never strong, but sometimes a rousting and nearly spicy flavor emerges from the small, lightly cured second-flush leaves. This is not one of those Darjeelings. But it is very good. It has a complex, delicate, floral flavor, is free from bitterness, and should accompany those contemplative moments that you claim for yourself over the course of the day.

I recommend drinking this tea plain after brewing it in a pre-heated mug with very hot water for a very short time (~2 minutes).

However prepared, it will disappoint those who prefer strong tea.

Each teabag is individually wrapped in a material that is not quite plastic and not quite paper. This arrangement succeeds in keeping the tea fresh for a year or two.

Second time drinking this tea and it is lovely. Very light without being overpoweringly flowery. I read on the container that it is nice to drink with milk and I have been on an Add Milk to Tea spree so I added some. I added less this time to see how it tastes. But so far I really like it.

I’d never tried Darjeeling tea before, but I’ve wanted to for a while, so when I saw this on the shelf at the grocery, I had to pick it up. I figured that I could count on Twinings for my first Darjeeling experience, as this company has never let me down before. I found it a little bitter with just sweetener, but I really enjoyed it once I’d added a bit of milk. I’m so glad I picked this one up!

I’m getting tired of bagged tea for today….

but this darjeeling w sugar and milk was a creamy pick-me-up

The flavor of this nice tea is light and buoyant. Although I like my tea strong, there is plenty of flavor in this blend to keep my tastebuds stimulated. Even after five minutes of steeping, it does not cross over into bitterness. This tea would be equally enjoyable at breakfast or mid-day.

I’m never really wowed by Twinings teas for some reason. This is nice enough, but not really anything special about it.

It’s quite nice for bagged, and if you don’t steep for too long, it’s great by itself or with just a little bit of milk.

I find this to be a more subtle tasting tea than Earl Grey or some of the other Black teas. You can get away with a few infusions before the taste starts to really degrade.

It’s good, but nothing special.

That was a good cup of bagged Tea!
I think it is a all-round good tasty experience, that you get from this Tea.

I drank this Darjeeling without any things added to the Tea, that I mostly do with Tea.

I’m sure that I will drink this Tea again!

Slight smoky flavor – not my favorite.

Found this while trying to find something with caffeine in my friend’s suite. I half remember drinking this when I was little, but I don’t remember how I drank it. Anyway, Darjeeling is a nice light tea, definitely not a heavy breakfast tea. I might want to get a box for myself to replace my Bigelow English Teatime.

I have this in the “Light Classics” packaging which says this is a “delicate tasting tea”. Uh. Not.

I first followed the instructions on the envelope, which said to steep for 3-5 minutes. I decided to go with 3 minutes. I took a sip, and promptly spit it out. I know Darjeeling is astringent, but geez. That was horrible.

However, steeped a little under 2 minutes, it’s alright. I like the light golden color, and the faintly floral smell. Having it now iced with a little sugar, and it’s like the watery stuff you get in restaurants. I’ll try to use it up this way (I got a box with 50 bags. sigh) but I don’t really like it enough to buy again.

Bought a box of this in bags to try, since I had never had darjeeling tea before. Since I am not a floral tea person the scent of this turned me off so I cannot judge the tea taste.