Margaret's Hope Classic Spring Black Tea (2017)

This is my first ever Darjeeling first flush black tea––I’ve only had Chinese black teas before this.

Lovely aroma, malted sugar and toasted nutty, reminds me of Golden Monkey black tea. The wet leaf itself gives off a divine floral bouquet. But the taste of the liquor is totally average. I used a bit too much water to leaf, but even so it’s slightly on the astringent side. I can see tea beginners enjoying this, and maybe it pairs well with savoury food but not so good with yoghurt and granola.

Brewed 2.5g of leaf in 8oz of water at 190˚F for 4:45. Next time I’ll try 6oz of water at 185˚F. Then will try adding honey or lemon.

Rating: 70

Here we come to a blast from the past. I finished a sample pouch of this first flush Darjeeling black tea back on 10/19, took notes for a review, and apparently never got around to posting anything. Obviously, I am remedying that now. I tend to be a big fan of the teas produced by the Margaret’s Hope Estate, so it should come as no surprise that I liked this one quite a bit.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, I noted aromas of herbs, grass, and wood coming from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I found aromas of green pepper, wood, grass, and citrus. In the mouth, the liquor offered interesting notes of almond, grass, hay, green pepper, lemon, malt, violet, dandelion, and field greens. The finish was very smooth with lingering floral tones coupled with malty, vegetal notes. Oddly, I thought I caught hints of menthol, bay leaf, nutmeg, and something like galangal very briefly at this time. I know that Teabox’s tasting note mentioned notes of white flowers and ripe pumpkin, but I did not get any of that. Of course, I am also generally ambivalent towards pumpkin and have not eaten it recently enough to have an accurate recollection of what it smells or tastes like.

This was a very nice first flush Darjeeling black tea. While it was somewhat subtler and smoother than I anticipated, it was also spicier and more vegetal than any other Margaret’s Hope tea I have tried to this point. On that note, I had a first flush black tea from Margaret’s Hope last year, and of the two, I think I enjoyed that one a little more. Still, this was a very good tea. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quality first flush Darjeeling black tea for regular consumption.