Indian Nimbu

At one point this was the only darjeeling I liked. Now I’m not even sure I like this one anymore. What’s going on, tastebuds? I’m all for learning to like things I didn’t before, but I don’t appreciate losing my taste for things (except maybe really crappy flavored tea. I’m ok with losing my taste for that). But darjeeling is a large hunk of the tea world, and lately my tastebuds are saying no to any and all varieties of it.

So yeah, today this one is unexpectedly bitter. I do think this would make a killer iced tea, so I guess I will take this home for that purpose.

Thanks so much LiberTEAS for sending me some from your stash!!!

I should have started with this tea this morning! It’s VERY FLAVORFUL…naturally!

I can taste the Lemon and Caramel comparison…nice.

I am thinking it would be great iced too! Woot!

This is going nicely with the sharpish cheddar I’m having as dessert. Not as well with the olive bread and delicious Shatto butter but I can live with it. :)

Bit of lemony caramel in a bright brew with a definite Darjeeling base.

Regardless of the food, it does go well with Winnie the Pooh. I love the first night the husband is gone on business trips. I can eat things he isn’t interested in and watch stuff he would put up with for me but not especially enjoy. :)

WOW! the dry leaf is astonishing: light, floral and fruity. i smell lemon only lightly and deeper tones of red grape. a very light tobacco hint and i’m not even sure tobacco is the right descriptor, but it’s absolutely not smoke.

definitely a darjeeling… but the scent profile makes me imagine darjeeling fields waiting to be picked, brilliant sunlight glinting over a broad field in india.

this is a brilliant tea. summer in a cup. lovely. sorry i only grabbed a sample of this one!!!

This cup is seriously astringent and I barely steeped it two minutes. It’s still good but not nearly as good as I remembered it, and I’m wondering if I overleafed slightly. The caramel is there but the lemon is all astringency and not an actual flavor. I’m glad this is close to a sipdown because I’m not sure I’d get it again.

My Harney & Sons order arrived on Saturday (very prompt shipping!) – the only real disappointment was that there wasn’t a free sample. I know that I shouldn’t expect freebies or anything – however, in the past when I’ve ordered from H&S I’ve always gotten a free sample tea sachet. This time – not. Ah well… I’m still quite happy with the prompt service of my order, plus, I have some of my favorites from H&S on hand again!

One of the very first tea reviews I’ve ever written was for this tea:

http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=1025

It remains a favorite. Not too lemony, not too sweet, just right!

Main notes were lemon and bergamot, no caramel present. I didn’t care for it plain, but I believe that’s more due to how long I steeped it (4 minutes). The liquor is relatively dark, which surprised me.

With milk, the lemon and bergamot blended together and a light caramel note came out. Yum.

With milk and sugar, the caramel note comes out a lot more, not just in sweetness but gooey creamy caramel. MMMmmm.

Tea of the afternoon…..

Yayyyy! Samples from Dinosara. How lucky am I ? Anyway, this one has been on my wish list for ages. I was intrigued by the lemon/caramel, and the reviews that said the tea was reminiscent of Earl Grey. I do get the lemon in the top notes, and the caramel in the later notes. It is like a light, but richer version of EG, but not like EG. The Indian tea base is very smooth..and I saw some serious green leaves in there! This is so going on my shopping list. What a lovely blend of flavors. Thank you so much for sending this one to me! I even had some of it kind of cold and it was still very tasty.

Steeped by the usual way!

Additional notes: Sipdown! I didn’t know I was so close to finishing this one, so it’s perfect timing that I have more on the way. Couldn’t help ordering two ounces of this. Even though this batch has 2011 written on the package, the flavor is still delightful. Darjeeling with lemon and a little of that caramel flavor that Paris has. I can only hope the new batch is half as good! One of my favorites from Harney, definitely.

I was a bit skeptical of this tea. I ordered a sample with my last Harney order. The smell of the dry leaf wasn’t very appealing to me BUT I steeped it this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised! This is good! I taste lemon predomintely but also a hint of caramel. Although I wouldn’t expect that combination to be tasty it is nice. Wow… I like this! Tastes much better than it smells!