This was another of the Darjeeling oolongs I finished during the first week of September. Honestly, I did not find it to be quite as appealing as the spring oolong from Jungpana, though it was a very appealing, likable tea overall. I appreciated its range of floral, fruity, and nutty aromas and flavors.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material produced aromas of raisin, fruit leather, prune, and fig. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of roasted almond, wood, hay, straw, and citrus as well as a stronger fruit leather scent. The first infusion then introduced aromas of violet and dandelion. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted almond, dandelion, wood, raisin, and hay. There was also something of a sugary presence in the mouth. Subsequent infusions introduced stronger violet and dandelion aromas along with some rose-like scents. New impressions of roasted peanut, grass, green bell pepper, marigold, minerals, rose, and toasted cashew appeared in the mouth along with belatedly emerging flavors of violet, orange, prune, and fig. The later infusions offered lingering mineral, wood, roasted peanut, hay, and grass impressions along with subtle dandelion accents in places.
Like the other Goomtee Estate teas I have tried, this was a very quirky and often surprising tea. I could see it making a good entry point to the world of Darjeeling oolongs for fans of first flush Darjeeling black teas. My only real knocks on this tea were that it displayed a tendency to get a bit chalky and astringent in the mouth on some of the longer infusions, and some of its most appealing aromas and flavors faded a little too quickly for my liking. This was still a very nice tea, however, and though not previously mentioned, it worked tremendously well when brewed in the Western style. Overall, I would recommend that fans of Darjeeling teas give this one a shot.
Flavors: Almond, Dandelion, Dried Fruit, Fig, Floral, Grass, Green Bell Peppers, Hay, Mineral, Nutty, Orange, Peanut, Raisins, Rose, Straw, Sugar, Violet, Wood
