No. 17 Darjeeling, Steinthal FTGFOP1, 2nd Flush

OMG… I’ve never tried cold brewing a darjeeling before but it really worked well with this one and brought forth honey like sweetness as well as a lot of fruitiness. I will need to do this again soon!

Thank you Steven Smith for the sample!

If I was smart, I would have tin refilled this instead of the oolong, BUT I am always in the mood for oolong and would not drink this 2nd flush every day. I would drink it every other day.

“Complex flavors of butter, nuts, flowers and fruits with balanced astringency and a sweet toasty finish” is fairly spot on, but it is a fairly muscatel second flush-just the way I like it. I admit that I oversteeped the first brew because I held the tea pot while talking to my mom, but it still produced a rich, vibrant orange cup of sweet muscatel goodness. The grassy bitterness and astringency were a bit much bordering on hay,straw, or even basil, but it the tea was still super tasty. I got more almond in the early mid sip, and more honey in the mid to aftertaste as it went down with the hay-dry bitterness.

The second 5 minute rebrew was much more balanced and definitely comparable to a Bai Hao with it’s honey aftertones. The almond-lemon taste was much more pronounced, and the florals were fairly buttery. Overall, this was a very smooth and sweet cup. The third seven minute rebrew was the lightest, but again, had the lemon zest honey thing going on with some dry characters still there.

I am tempted to pick up more of this one. It ranks as my No. 1 sachet black tea as of now, Aug. 6, 2017. As for those looking for a quality bagged Darjeeling or a slightly floral black tea, I highly recommend it. This tea is also fairly easy to recommend to experienced drinkers and newbies alike. The price is my only detractor personally, though the loose leaf pricing is not bad. $11-14 for 15 sachets is not ideal, but you are paying for quality.

As some of you may know, my nose and mouth were attacked by potpourri, jam, and dirt last night (I conducted a lengthy gongfu session with Verdant’s 1985 Special Grade Qing Xiang Aged Tieguanyin), after which I immediately decided that I should drink something that restored a degree of faith in the tea merchants of the world. In other words, I experienced the wackness and ran screaming into the outstretched arms of an orthodox second flush Darjeeling. I think Thomas Wolfe may have been wrong about that whole not being able to go home again thing, but I could be taking that title too literally.

I prepared this tea Western style. I steeped one rather healthy teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 212 F water for 5 minutes. I kept this simple and did not conduct additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry tea leaves emitted mild aromas of straw, grass, herbs, and Muscat grape. After infusion, the Muscat, herb, grass, and straw aromas intensified and were joined by aromas of roasted almond and toast. In the mouth, I experienced a lovely mix of toast, malt, cream, Muscat, roasted almond, grass, straw, lemon zest, and pungent herb (almost lemon balm and basil-like) notes.

This tea was very, very good. Sometimes it is so nice to return to something with which you are familiar. Prior to my experience with this tea, I do not recall ever trying a tea from the Steinthal Estate. I am hoping that those grassy, lemony, and pungent herb notes are characteristic of their teas. I feel that I could safely recommend this one highly to fans of orthodox Darjeelings.