This is truly an exquisite tea. Glenburn is one of my favorite plantations and they did not disappoint with this one. The short and dirty story behind this tea being “Special” is it is the first pick of the first flush of the very best tea plants at Glenburn. That being said, only 30 kilos of this tea was available to the US this year, and it is the first year that this tea was offered in the states at all.
Enough about the background, on to the tea itself =). This tea reminds me a lot of this years (2012) first flush. This tea however ends up being smoother, even when grossly over steeped. When over steeped it gives the brew a very nice astringency. It does not have quite the pepperiness of a standard Darjeeling but has hints of a gyokuro especially with the first several steeps. If you can find any, I would certainly suggest trying some.
