Darjeeling TGFOP1 Margaret's Hope S.F.

The package says to steep this tea at 93C/203F, and I definitely poured in boiling water. Oops. Luckily, this package Cavocorax sent me has a few more rounds of Darjeeling to play with.

This one is more malty than the other Second Flush’s I had, and also has more of a cocoa overtone. I love the floral-sweet finish Darjeeling seems to have. It’s a little astringent mid-sip but it’s not like biting into a citrus rind, and it mellows out a bit into that floral sweetness that I like so much.

Looking at all the classification information for Darjeeling tea makes my head spin. I don’t think I’m going to be able to tell the difference anytime soon.

Another day, another darjeeling. :P

I thought I had had this before, but I guess I didn’t rate it. It’s a lot nicer than I remember it being. The first few sips are remarkable smooth and lightly fruity. It’s rather pleasant yet a bit mild. I was distracted when I made it and I think I understeeped it! I’m also WAY too sleepy to try and describe the complexity in this flavour properly.

Whoops!

Anyways, I’ll pass the rest on to CrowKettle, but next time Zen Tea does a sale, I think I’ll try more. I like it almost as much as David’s Darjeeling, and more than David’s Second Flush.

Update: I resteeped it and lost track of the time again. :| But it’s very malty with subtle coca notes I think. Very enjoyable! And I bought my 20g pack for 50% off! I’m so happy I tried it!

The Margaret’s Hope my mom gave me is so much nicer. I don’t know why, as I don’t have the packaging anymore – different harvest? Fresher?

Or maybe I’ve just been drinking too many Assam teas. I’m not sure. But I don’t care for this one.

This entry is for the second flush version of this tea, while my sample is from the autumn harvest. I got it a couple years ago, so it’s probably too old to be optimal. I steeped around 4 g of Darjeeling in 476 ml of 195F water for five minutes.

My initial impressions are of rye bread, malt, molasses, muscatel, caramel, and mild florals. There’s a kick of astringency at the back of the sip, and lots of tannins and grassiness in the aftertaste.

This is a burly tea for Margaret’s Hope. I haven’t had enough autumnal Darjeelings to know if it’s typical of the type, or maybe its age has blunted the more delicate flavours. Either way, it makes a good breakfast tea.

GCTTB Round 6

God bless you, Tea Sommelier education!

Tonight I’m drinking/eating the best meal I’ve had literally all of 2017 – and I mean to be fair it’s only been twenty eight days but still…

So, I planned this whole thing out as I was going through the tea box for this first time; I saw a traditional black Darjeeling and I remembered the tea/cheese pairing exercise we did as part of the course. I’ve casually practiced this since doing it, but I haven’t really made a big thing out of it yet nor have I revisited cheese pairings with Darjeeling so I figured why not do both! After all, I did receive a Brie baker for Christmas that I hadn’t gotten to try out yet.

So to break it down, my tea was obviously this one but the meal I had was a baked brie topped with red pepper jelly (which was cooked along with the brie) spread over the most heavenly cranberry hazlenut crackers. I know that sounds like a lot of flavours going on but it was thought out, and all came together really wonderfully. The high fat content and butteryness of the brie eliminate the astringency in the mouthfeel of the Darjeeling which can sometimes be unpleasant, and at the same time the butter acts as a flavour carrier. This leaves the beautiful muscatel notes which Darjeeling is so prized for which are drawn out and exaggerated by the sweetness of the cranberry in the crackers.

So like I said, well thought out/planned out – and just orgasmic as well. I was literally moaning with nearly every bite. My only regret is that I didn’t have someone to share it with that would have properly appreciated it.

https://scontent.fyzd1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16406516_10209458626836529_1517805753311558582_n.jpg?oh=9f2c8ee233b7d1d05860ab274a72a453&oe=5902631B

There’s a crappy quality picture of it in its full glory for you all to be jealous of – and of course it wouldn’t be complete without a song pairing for auditory stimulation as well so here was my selection:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxhugRKZ8g&index=3&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

And oh what a night it was!

From the Here’s Hoping TTB, R5

I’m trying as many small samples/sipdowns as I can to make the box smaller, lol. (I’m also not doing very well at that task. Plotting how to make it smaller while wanting to add more tea is hard!) Unfortunately there’s not really much that I’m interested in that fits that description. This one I tried purely to compare to the GoldenTeaTips version I’ve tried.

Package instructions says 203F for 3 min. To my defense it was very early in the morning and I was half asleep, but I should have known better than to brew a darjeeling for that hot at that long. I did follow package instructions though, I have enough left to try it at my normal preference for a darjeeling (hopefully for more fragrant results, 195F @ 1.5min). Anyways, the result was surprising not as bad as it could have been, but I think it could have been better.

About medium darkness, but malty, with some honey and bread notes along with the usually floral sweet notes of darjeeling. BUT astringent, pretty astringent, which for now I’m blaming on the brew temperature. Compared to GTT’s version, it’s a teensy bit sweeter, and less floral, but that could be attributed to maybe the sample’s a little older? When I tried GTT’s it was with their subscription and it was pretty fresh. When this is cold (because I set it aside and forgot about it), the astringency isn’t too bad to deal with. If I didn’t know this was a tea I would say it’s my kind of beer with the malty and sweet notes with a little bit of bitterness.

I’ll probably try to brew it again to drink down the sample, but I’m probably not logging it again, there’s maybe 2-3 small cups left. If you’re behind me in this box and want some, drop a comment for me to leave it in the box. =). On the other hand I’m fairly bored with the box already (not many greens or oolongs in here…) and will probably be passing it along soon.

I think I steeped it in too hot of temperature, wasn’t paying enough attention.

This is a mild, pleasant Darjeeling with a slight astringent bite during the first part of the sip, but this seems to dissipate by the time the sip is done.

Overall a pleasant drink but almost bitter, and frankly a bit dry for my preference. There’s a smudge of sweetness that’s enjoyable but Darjeeling may not be my favorite thing. Will have to do more experimenting.

Will rebrew later at a different temperature.

2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – D

Maybe it was the amount of leaf I used to finish this one, but this was quite the robust Darj!  I do appreciate a dark Darj.  Very rich and auburn colored.  I’m a bit sad now this will be gone from the cupboard now that I have revisited this and I remember it is one of my favorite Darjeelings.
2023 sipdowns: 60