Random pick this morning.
I keep hoping for these Darjeelings to stand out, to show me something different, but they’re still all flowing together for me. The estate doesn’t matter.
Although, wait a minute… Were they all this spicy on the nose? I don’t really think they were. This one got three minutes, same amount of leaf as the others (well, duh. It’s a sample) and same amount of water. In the same pot, even. But it smells a little overdone.
Quite spicy on the flavour too. Grass-y spicy, kinda. I’m not sure I’m really a fan of that. It tastes a little overdone too. Maybe a little jasmine-y, which is a bit odd, because nothing jasmine-y has been in the pot ever. Was this cup not clean? It should be clean. Wait, let me get another cup. No, that’s the same story. Very floral. Almost… soap-y.
I think the conclusion I’m coming to with these is that Darjeeling is all well and good on occasion but I don’t think it’s the Indian for me. I’m beginning to strongly suspect that there isn’t really any specific Indian for me. There is the odd pearl here and there, but on the whole, I’m sticking to Chinese, I think.
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Darjeelings are a far cry from anything from China, but you ought to give a good second flush Makaibari or Margaret’s Hope a try. I also tend towards Chinese teas. When it comes to Indian tea, I gravitate to full leaf special prep Nilgiris – they can be a bit strange but very tasty.
I’ve tried both of those already. I can’t tell the flushes or the estates apart in flavour. They might as well all be the same tea with different names on it.
I’ve had Nilgiri a couple of times, I think, but I wasn’t really a fan of those either. It might have changed since, but I don’t think my box contain anything from the area (I bought a sample-box from Nothing But Tea, containing a sample of all their black teas. Most of them Assam, Darjeeling (oh so many Darjeelings!) and Ceylon. Only three Chinese (not okay!) and a couple of interesting Bolivians). I still seek my perfect Assam, but I have no desire to do the same with Darjeeling. I’ve already ‘met’ my perfect Ceylon, but alas, it’s Sinharaja from Golden Moon which is unavailable to me. Yeah, that’s my sort of luck. I believe the awesome Dawn from The Simple Leaf was Indian too, come to think of it, although I can’t remember what the region was. TSL has closed now anyway, so that’s double-y unavailable now.
Does Golden Moon not ship to Denmark?
They don’t ship outside the North American continent, I think. I got the sample through a swap. But because even companies that do ship to Europe almost always end up charging enormous shipping fees and because there’s a good risk that I’ll be required to pay VAT and customs for the package on arrival, the vast majority of American sites are out of my reach. There are a precious few with very small handling fees, like TeaSpring and 52teas, but on average it’s about $20 or more for me. In shipping alone.
Darjeelings are a far cry from anything from China, but you ought to give a good second flush Makaibari or Margaret’s Hope a try. I also tend towards Chinese teas. When it comes to Indian tea, I gravitate to full leaf special prep Nilgiris – they can be a bit strange but very tasty.
I’ve tried both of those already. I can’t tell the flushes or the estates apart in flavour. They might as well all be the same tea with different names on it.
I’ve had Nilgiri a couple of times, I think, but I wasn’t really a fan of those either. It might have changed since, but I don’t think my box contain anything from the area (I bought a sample-box from Nothing But Tea, containing a sample of all their black teas. Most of them Assam, Darjeeling (oh so many Darjeelings!) and Ceylon. Only three Chinese (not okay!) and a couple of interesting Bolivians). I still seek my perfect Assam, but I have no desire to do the same with Darjeeling. I’ve already ‘met’ my perfect Ceylon, but alas, it’s Sinharaja from Golden Moon which is unavailable to me. Yeah, that’s my sort of luck. I believe the awesome Dawn from The Simple Leaf was Indian too, come to think of it, although I can’t remember what the region was. TSL has closed now anyway, so that’s double-y unavailable now.
Does Golden Moon not ship to Denmark?
They don’t ship outside the North American continent, I think. I got the sample through a swap. But because even companies that do ship to Europe almost always end up charging enormous shipping fees and because there’s a good risk that I’ll be required to pay VAT and customs for the package on arrival, the vast majority of American sites are out of my reach. There are a precious few with very small handling fees, like TeaSpring and 52teas, but on average it’s about $20 or more for me. In shipping alone.