Organic Darjeeling Estate

I had this tea at a local cafe this morning on the top of Nob Hill. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The tea was served in a 16 oz. pint glass and I had one tea pouch.

This is a light bodied tea with an organish-brown color and a delicate aroma. The tea was extremely fruity with notes of peach and a big, juicy muscatel finish. It was devoid of astringency and was a bit on the sweeter side. I did steep the same bag again and the second step was nice but definitely not as flavorful as steep #1. I’m surprised to see the bad reviews of this since I thought it was quite nice and I’ve been drinking a lot of darjeelings these past few months.

There isn’t any information on their website about what flush it is. I was able to see some darker leaves in addition to a few olive ones. My guess is it’s a blend of second and first flush teas. The note here on Steepster says it’s from the Mim estate, which I’ve never even heard of.

I’m already swimming in darjeeling but I might be tempted to pick up some of the tea pouches, especially for travel.

This is another sneakily nabbed tea from the pub where my boyfriend works.

It’s been a while since I’ve had darjeeling. This one is rather peppery, especially in the scent, and sort of herbal tasting. The muscatel flavor is definitely there in the forefront, along with a taste that reminds me a bit of oolong for some reason. Like a faint nuttiness. There is a bit of fruit flavor hiding in there, too. It’s actually a lot more complex than I was expecting.

The packet said to brew it for 4 minutes, but honestly, I would maybe do 3:30 instead to cut down on the nutty, slightly oversteeped taste. It would keep it from getting harsh or bitter in the finish. Mine hadn’t exactly reached that point, but I could taste it getting there.

went to Tea with my sister and her old and dear friend. it was lovely.
wonderful tea and wonderful company.
http://instagram.com/p/ZwBRCVIcxt/
http://instagram.com/p/ZwBYJmIcx1/

A delightful, mild darjeeling. It called to me when I started baking bread for the house earlier. This rainy Seattle day needed something warming. I really love the almost honey-like sweetness this tea imparts.

This was my other free sample from Mighty Leaf. On first taste and smell, it reminds me of the Tetley tea. I am drinking it hot with no milk or sugar and enjoying it.

This seems to just be a plain black from the Darjeeling region that they made an organic version of. Plain, yes, but good.

At my hotel convention center meeting, I also grabbed a bag of this tea when I was done with the Organic Green Dragon. I have to say, I was surprised to find a cardboard taste in this tea. I wasn’t even drinking it out of a paper cup or anything. Perhaps the tea was getting old and starting to take in the “flavor” of the paper packaging? Anyway, it was otherwise a pretty boring, mild black tea. I honestly couldn’t pick out the fruity flavors that it claims to have because I was distracted by that cardboard flavor. It wasn’t terrible, but it was a bit of a disappointment after how pleasantly surprised I was by the organic green dragon. Bummer.

This sachet of Organic Darjeeling Estate from Mighty Leaf produced a surprisingly nice glass of tea. Why surprising? I suppose because the envelope gave no indication that this was a first flush, single estate tea, so I simply assumed that it was the usual “swept off the floor” grocery store darjeeling fare.

The color of the liquor is darker amber—perhaps because the leaves are more broken up than loose-leaf darjeeling tends to be (case in point: Norbu Margaret’s Hope). I kept the steep time short, because in my experience it is a simple matter indeed to ruin a cup of darjeeling. Three minutes turned out to be just right. The flavor was smooth and neither bitter nor overly grassy. It was a tiny bit scratchy in my throat after the swallow, but overall not bad at all.

Out of the Darjeelings I tasted today this was the strongest smelling, a pleasant and very floral/fruity smell. Likewise in taste there was a very floral tone, not the most subtle Darjeeling.

There is however a bitterness and stronger astringency to this tea that I did not get from other Darjeelings. Perhaps could do with some experimenting on brew temperatures/time.

This is exactly the kind of metallic, astringent darjeeling I don’t like. It has a fairly nice muscatel flavour to begin with, but it quickly develops into an iron-like tang. It leaves my mouth dry, too. I generally prefer first flush darjeeling, which might be why I’m not getting along too well with this one. I’m just conscious that I’ve definitely had better, and that spoils it for me. Not a winner, I’m afraid.

Kat gave me this tea. Om nom.