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Holy mackerel the weather today has been awesome! I am pretty sure it stormed (and not just distant rumbles, full on house rattling storms, there might have been hail!) from 9am till 3pm. I did not get the full effect of the storms though, see I got up at 9 to the massive crack of thunders (and a terrified Espeon nesting in my hair) and decided to lay in bed and enjoy the storm for a bit…next thing I know it is 3 in the afternoon and Ben tells me the storm just ended. Well crap. Trying to flip my schedule to diurnal so I can be aware at the Midwest Tea Fest this weekend is turning out to be hard!

Today we are looking at a tea from What-Cha, slowly trying to finish all the ones in my Monarch notebook (aka tea notebook four) really I should have made a separate What-Cha notebook so finding which ones to review would be easier, oops. I love Oolongs, I love Darjeelings, so yeah, combining the two for Darjeeling 2nd Flush 2014 Goomtee Oolong Tea just sounds awesome. When Darjeeling experiments with processing techniques to make something other than the typical Darj Black Tea, it usually turns out to be a unique and delicious result, I have loved the Yellow and White Darjeelings I have had, so let us see how the Oolong compares. The aroma of the dark curling leaves (almost looks like a Yancha had a party with a first flush Darjeeling and this is the result) is pretty delicious, it blends notes of fresh muscatel, like scuppernongs and purple grapes. Add on delicate floral notes and a tiny bit of nuttiness at the midsniff, and the finish, well, it fades off into walnuts and lychee.

So, how to brew this tea, the perpetual conundrum! What the heck, I will do both! Starting out with the gaiwan for gongfu cha, the aroma of the actually quite colorful leaves is graceful, no really, it smells like a graceful flower in the breeze next to a scuppernong orchard. Underneath the almost heady sweetness is a delicate note of chestnut and pepper. The liquid is super sweet, blending honey and muscatel notes with honeysuckles and a finish of walnuts.

The first steep is incredibly delicate while having a well rounded mouthfeel, smooth and sweet like flower nectar and biting into a sun warmed scuppernong. This transitions to lychees and chestnut, the finish has notes of fresh vegetation and a lingering orange blossom.

For the second steep, the aroma is a blend of honey, flower nectar, and a bit of golden raisins. The taste is a bit intoxicating, blending muscatel notes of scuppernongs and golden raisins at the front. This moves to a slightly heady blend of flower, like wildflowers and honeysuckles with just a touch of nasturtium bite. The finish has a touch of briskness and malt, similar to a 2nd flush Darjeeling.

For a western style steeping, well, I think I might actually like it better than with the gaiwan! The mouthfeel is buttery the whole time, moving into just a tiny bit of briskness at the finish. The taste starts out with honey and lychees, then moves into scuppernongs and honeysuckles, and has a finish of juicy tangerines. Another fine example of an experiment turning out successful!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-cha-darjeeling-2nd-flush-2014.html