Darjeeling (loose leaf)

Yesterday my daughter found a really nice shop in our town that we did not know existed. It was a combo of a fine foods shop and a coffee / tea shop.
They had some loose leaf tea but no one was there to talk about it. It was in glass jars and I had no idea how fresh the teas were or where they were from.
My daughter got some gourmet hot cocoas, we each got some sweet treats, snagged a giant cinnamon roll for my hubby.
We got some carrot bisque soup from the deli (it was amazing!) and I snagged some of this.
I was not expecting much but I just really wanted to give it a try.
You see I went right from bagged teas mostly celestial seasonings and Biglow, to ordering loose leaf online.
Although we have some selection of Twinings bagged in my city the selection is not much at all – and all bagged for the most part.
Then I saw this cute little purple tin and thought “Why not?”
Well I do love the tin lol not that I will reuse it for this tea after – or perhaps not any tea, but the tea itself, its MEH.
I did not steep it long as others said it got bitter quickly, and even at only 2 minutes the tea was quite dark. I know its supposed to be CTC but the cut seems more like fannings, I had so many pieces at the bottom of my cup it was ridiculous.
I did not get much muscatel flavor at all.
I mean it was not horrid, but it was something I would expect out of a tea bag at a hotel at best.
Not really disappointed though as it was an experience I probably should have had much sooner and now I know.
I will probably use it for iced tea in the summer for my family who always comes by for iced tea. They don’t care if it is fancy and good flavor or not. They just want it made for them and ready to go.
I may also use it to test my blending ability with a butterscotch flavoring I purchased earlier this month.

Finely cut CTC loose leaf version. Not sure why, but I have never had this before, loose or bagged. I am not going to rate this today. I had the second cup from the leaf. A co-worker and I swapped presses after I had the De Lea Crème. I got to sniff the dry leaf before he steeped it. It was the scent of straw (different from hay). I have only tried 3 Darjeelings – this one, Mother Parkers (bagged), and Ahmad loose. Of these entry level teas, the Ahmad was my favorite. This one, at least this cup, is my least favorite. It is rather drying and a bit bland. What flavors that are present remind me of the Charleston Plantation tea base in their Governor Gray. His description of the first cup was nothing like mine. He said it tasted like the dry leaf smelled but with a lasting sweetness. There was an additional fruity flavor element he couldn’t describe. Hopefully it was Muscatel grape – but I won’t know that until I try the first cup. He used boiling water and a two minute steep. I went just below boiling and a three minute steep. I thought that was too high for Darjeeling. There were no instructions on the tin that I could find.

As the cup reached room temperature the flavor did start coming out more, but not enough to change my opinion. I think I might like this as an iced tea. Downside is left me with a bit of stomach burn. I haven’t experienced that in a long time. Next time I will have to make sure I have some cookies to nibble on.

Mediocre, at best.

Good for the price, but still pretty bad for a Darjeeling. If you concentrate, you might be able to pick up a few of the calling card flavors of Darjeeling, but even then, they are still incredibly weak.

Whichever estate supplies Twinings with this stuff is a real sellout.

Made a valiant effort to produce the right floral notes, but suffered from its flat and slightly bitter taste. Could be used as a blending tea, but does not hold up well on its own.

(Granted, this tea had been poorly stored in a friend’s cupboard for the greater part of a year, so a more recent and better-cared-for purchase might have a different taste.)

Light, mildly flowery, but not in an air-freshener sort of way. Perfect with freshly baked scones and just a hint of honey. Don’t overbrew, though…it goes very bitter very fast.

I have definitely had better tea.

I bought this tea because I had almost never been let down by Twinings; this was, however, a little disappointing.

The taste is strange, not at all what Darjeeling should taste like. I have had several cups, but none tasted just right.
The tea tastes fairly bitter and leaves a strange aftertaste in your mouth.

EDIT: I have found that combining this tea with Earl Grey by Twinings (3 parts Darjeeling to 2 parts Earl Grey) makes a wonderful tea, so I’m increasing the rating from 40

So I don’t follow directions because I like to experiment on how much to put in my strainer to fit my tastes. I put about double what’s in the tea bags and it tasted very yummy….. until I got to the bottom and swallowed a mouthful of tea mud. I’m going to try using less next time and hope for the best.

I was skeptical about this tea given all the reviews so I brewed it as I do most other teas from Twinings, and then iced it. BITTER! Blech! I sweetened with stevia and it was still very bitter. I let is sit for about an hour and it mellowed out pretty well. I gave it another hour to mellow out and it was drinkable. I’ll try again in a few days with less time on the clock and see how it goes. Unfortunately, here at work I have little control over the water temp. For now 50ish rating.

Slightly bitter at the bottom of the cup. I’m not sure if I brew it properly. I need a lot of practice, because She always made it for me.

Very poor quality tea. I enjoy Darjeeling, and if you manage to make this tea JUST so, it has all of the classic muscadet flavours, with just a hint of ginger and spice in there. But it gets bitter very quickly, has a tonne of sediment in it, does not stand up to repeat steepings, and has to be made in exactly the right way not to taste terrible. (Not to mention that it can’t be stored – it lost its flavour over about a month). Would not buy again.

Love Darjeeling and know how to make it. Familiar with estate blends, single estates, spring and summer flushed. Okay, I’m mad for Darleeing. But I really disliked the Twinings loose. Weak and stale tasting. Old? Adulterated? Maybe I had a bad batch?

Just ok, unremarkable and on weak side. As I noted elsewhere, blend this in equal parts with the unremarkable Twinings gunpowder green and you get a good cup. Easily better than either alone.

Tastes like flowers, when brewed properly.