TD60: Darjeeling FTGFOPI Premium Blend

Well well, good afternoon folks!

Missy decided we were going to have a darjeeling face off today. We have a little bit left of this, TD28 Tindharia, and the Golden Moon darjeeling.

This particular darjeeling is a first/second/multi-estate super blend as far as I can tell. It’s like Captain Planet in tea form. Out of the three, it ends up being the lightest in color as well.

The flavor of this one is quite smooth, it’s very mellow with a slight fruitiness, I might consider it a peach flavor. It still feels distinctly darjeeling though, not just a nondescript black tea.

Overall, quite pleasant. I have some astringency right now, but as I’m sampling back and forth between three different teas… I don’t feel I can appropriately blame any of the three for sure.

Winner? I think this one, but only slightly better than Golden Moon. And I’d be lying if ‘availability’ didn’t come into play on this (I know I’m going to keep buying from Upton for other teas, so my Darjeeling might as well come from there, amiright?).

Today I decided to compare the Darjeelings I have here. I have four. Three from Upton and one from Goldenmoon. I actually tried this one a week ago or so. Now I need to find the best of the lot.

Again this is soooooo yummy. This one is bright and coppery too but very smooth. The fruity notes I think I get with darjeelings are quite apparent this time, lots of peach. I can’t find the bite I normally get with black teas. I’ve had it for about 5 minutes with another cup and they are both gone! Sad face.

Part 4/4 in the Upton tea basic darjeeling sampler. I did not see this one in the database so I decided to add it.

I’m still fairly new to the world of darjeelings and the tin said to steep this @ 212 for 3-4 minutes. I found that to be a bit too much for me so I decided to try it at around 190 for 3 minutes. I suspect the perfect steeping for me might lie somewhere in between the two so I’ll keep trying. :)

This is a very nice blend. It isn’t quite as fruity as some darjeelings I’ve had. It’s lightly brisk and smooth. There is a little bit of pungency here which overwhelmed me at the higher temp, with the lower temp it’s better. This has a nice delicate flavor with a hint of spiciness and delicate wood but I am not feeling blown away by it. It’s easy to drink plain and would probably make a lovely iced tea. I’ll need to keep experimenting with this one.

Regardless I am finding darjeelings seem to be growing on me…

A surprise box of Upton samples appeared in my mailbox this afternoon. Oh, Claire. You really DO love me. A better friend, there is not! /yoda

I started with this Darjeeling blend. (Mug infuser also courtesy of Miss Claire. I’m starting to feel like this box may as well have contained samples of smack, a needle and instructions.)

Holy crap, boiling water is really hot. Did you know that? I like my tea plain most of the time, so I had to wait around for five minutes or so while it cooled down enough to sip (instead of just dumping in some milk or whatever). It had a nice mellow baked pumpkin-y smell, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe some kind of flower. Faint. Overall the fragrance was pretty BIG! and very pleasant. Once it cooled off, I could taste a little of that in the flavor as well.

When it was really hot, the flavor seemed light. The cooler it got, the more I could taste. Now, it could just be because I’m coming from a pot-a-day coffee background, but I always think tea has a delicate flavor. Subtle, especially when compared to the grassy-brick-to-the-face that is a Burundi dark roast. So I’m not sure how strong this is on the spectrum of tea. It tastes good and flavorful and bright.

The second brew still has plenty of that pumpkin smell I like and the flavor is great. I might actually like it even more the second time around…makes me wish I had a spiced pumpkin cupcake to go with it.