Lochan Tea Limited

This type of tea (I think I’ve seen it called king’s tea?) fascinates me whenever I see it, so I figured for the steep price of $4.34/50 g I should throw some into my Lochan order.

It’s proved very interesting. It smelled like an herb shop but very mild. I thought I could make out the scent of licorice which I think is added to these sometimes. The rolled-up leaves look completely encased in a powdery substance and took longer to open up than normal. I expected it to taste pretty strongly of ginseng, but my first sip really surprised me; it just tastes like a dark, toasty oolong. But, as I proceed and especially on the second infusion I’m getting a strong aftertaste and a sweetness that really lingers at the back of my tongue. I’m still not sure what I’m tasting, but it’s an interesting adventure.

My original review contended this nice Assam (I just love the name…purr…) didn’t need additives. Got a little happy with the half-and-half this morning, and while I think I like this better as a standalone, it takes milk OK.

Will be reviewing this one soon for itsallabouttheleaf.com, but further research necessary. (Oh, shucks. I’ll have to make more.) Even with likely user error on my part—I think I didn’t make it strong enough—it promises to be a nice Assam.

Addendum: got it figured out—-full review @ http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1077/tea-review-lochan-tea-harmutty-golden-paw-first-flush-2010/

This is very dark and black tea tasting to me. It has a little tiny bit of maltiness in the back of the throat.

About average. I’ll likely trade it away.

I’m a sucker for Darjeeling oolongs. Heck, I’m even a sucker for the one and only Assam oolong I’ve tried. Nilgiri oolongs…um…they mean well. This one out of Bihar is hard to pinpoint. So we’ll start with the obvious.

Do I like it? Oh, hell yes. Character-wise, it has the nuances of a Nilgiri OP (Tiger Hill-ish), but a lot of the fruity bend of a Formosa. There’s also a smoky aspect on the end, but it’s very minor. One thing of note, though, this tasting note was from trying it Western-style. It held up well in a “wrongfu” prep, but not quite as well. Go big and boiled with this one.

It also almost became the subject of a tea fiction story (along with one other Doke tea, a Taiwanese sencha, and two Nepalese whites), the “DVD commentary”-ish blog on that trainwreck can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/10/03/blending-tea-and-fiction/

I really like Lochan Tea, and I dig the family behind it. Their Doke garden also puts out some quality stuff. I received this in a swap thanks to Tea Trade HQ. I was psyched to see that Castleton’s new Moonlight was among the teas delivered. Last year’s Moonlight was my favorite Darjeeling of 2011.

How did this measure up?

Well, I hate to be frank…but not at all. Granted, it was fair, but nowhere near the excellence of last year’s. I’m not sure if something went wrong in delivery, or if I stored it wrong…but the entire gongfu affair started off kale-like and ended up with woodiness – at best. It reminded me quite a bit of a Chinese yellow tea rather than an oolong, which is too bad.

The Purrfect Cup Sent me this – thanks a million!

This has almost a fruity and honey yet grainy type taste to it – it’s very different than I expected but quite pleasant.

I do agree with Rumpus Parable that there is a Zucchini type flavor to it as well! This is an interesting and tasty cuppa!

Special thanks to The Purrfect Cup!

I was unable to find this on their site or here on steepster so I created a new one :)

Dry – the leaves smell…well…like fresh leaves…gently scented…barely-there

The liquor infuses to a light brown.

The flavor is VERY fresh leaf/earthy with that astringency (for lack of better word from me at the moment) that you would find in a darjeeling. It tastes herbally but fresh and crisp.

Due to the lack of aroma I wasn’t expecting this powerful ‘smack in the face’ type flavor. But this tea can ‘hit me’ any day!

Thanks Purrfect Cup!

This is a solid darjeeling. Slightly bitter and astringent but in that stereotypical and welcomed darjeeling sort of way! I think this is my first Dooteriah, tho, so that is super awesome!

It’s a mighty fine darjeeling!

The leaves are intensely aromatic, spicy, sweet-smelling like caramel; I’ve rarely smelled a tea that’s so enticing. While some Yunnan teas can be overbearing, these buds are flavorful but pleasingly sweet. A backbone of spice makes this tea seem exotic. Rich flavor is what Yunnan Golden Buds is all about, but it’s the kind of taste that you always want to come back to. Especially nice paired with a light biscuit.

A bolder leaf than your typical Castleton, whose leaves is more uniformly chopped with the First and Second Flush harvests. (Their rich Second Flush is a favorite.) The dry leaf is coppery and surprisingly bold, with a generous amount of whitish tips mixed in. But the flavor is predictably special: deep amber color, with a spicy flavor, but I can’t find the Muscatel that accompanies the very best Darjeelings. Deeper and somewhat more complex than the 2nd Flush, this estate can’t seem to do wrong.

Maybe it’s my taste buds today but I’m not impressed with this tea. It’s rather thin, not very tasteful. What it has it a flat wheat flavor. It calls for sweetener just to give it another flavor for more depth. It has more of an after-taste than what I’d call a finish.

If there was more to the sample I might play around with temperatures and times, but there’s not.

So I opened the package I noted the nutty/malty aroma that I have come to notice with most assam teas. I have to say I love the smell of this one. I set the kettle to just below boiling and began prepping my tea. Today I was using a tea sac bag in order to prepare my tea as I was in the shop and we’re a little short on proper infusers at the moment. By the time my tea was ready for the water, well the water was ready! While I waited for the steeping to be done I really noted the malty aroma come out. My mouth may have also begun to water at about the same time.

The result? Well there is a beautiful amber colored liquid in my cup! So, so far so good. The taste is very crisp and malty – just the way I like my assam teas. I also am noting a slight hint of bitterness coming through that lingers for just a moment.* I’m also enjoying how smooth and rich this tea is with each sip. Again thank you Vivek at Lochan Tea Limited for this and the other samples (more reviews to come).

This is another keeper from Lochan Tea Limited. It smells & tastes a bit more green than Upton’s No.1 Tippy Orthodox GFOP Darjeeling (which I’ve been drinking the past few months), but has a sweet finish. This may be blasphemy, but I really like it with milk & Stevia. I will definitely keep this one in my cupboard at all times. I highly recommend Lochan Teas. It’s the only tea leaves I love to inhale when I first open a bag. Like I used to do with good coffee grounds. :)

Mmm … malty good and so rich! I love a malty Assam (made with milk & Stevia) and I was really pleased with this one. I must never, never, never run out!! EVER!!! :))

I normally dislike the slight bitter quality that most first-flush Darjeelings have, but this one is light, smooth, and entirely agreeable. It takes honey beautifully!

Lots of flavour. Bitter, but in a good way. Goes spectacularly with food.

really one of the better tea’s

Been busy recently, finally managed to make a cup of tea this morning… Well this tea before shipping costs were added on, came out to be about 4USD for 100g. I don’t know but that’s insanely cheap for a first flush darjeeling. Honey brown brew, slightly astringent if oversteeped and more malty than fruity. I would have more to say, but my thoughts are currently eluding me. Overall, great value from Lochan teas.

At 195*: Well blended flavour profile. Muscatel fruitiness, but not as blatant as some of the other FF. Overall, I love it, but I think I prefer the Giddapahar, just because it gave me more of a wow sensation. This is nice and mellow, yet still interesting. Not very sweet. Robust. A good first flush, and I look forward to Thurbo’s second. I realise a lot can happen in between flushes, but something about this one makes me think their second may really shine.

It’s too demure to really get me excited, but I would buy this tea and drink it consistently. I just wouldn’t find myself with the urge to weep when I used it up, like I have been tempted to do sometimes with other estate flush teas.

…Later: 205* Demure is definitely not a word I’d use to describe this baby when you up the temperature a little. It’s got great notes of muscatel and hay. Really aromatic and quite spectacular.

I needed something comforting this morning after waking up with the news of Jack Layton’s death, and nice strong Assam with a hefty dose of cream was it. After watching some great but sad tributes to him, this and reading his last letter (http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/08/22/pol-layton-last-letter.html) helped perk me up as much as possible. So very heartbreaking, though. It’s rare for there to be a political leader, especially a Canadian leader, that the people can so unanimously look up to. At least I think we can be confident that he’s left quite the legacy of hope and change.