Gopaldhara Special Autumn Clonal Black Tea (2016)

If memory serves, this was the second of the 2016 autumn flush Darjeeling black teas I finished and reviewed last month. Unfortunately, it is the last one to get a write-up on Steepster. I’m honestly not sure why that is. Most likely, I simply put it off and then forgot about it. Anyway, I did not expect much from this tea. Teabox’s description of it seemed to betray that it was not their favorite of the 2016 autumn flush teas, as it was simply described as being “for those who seek out lighter teas,” the sort of tea that you could get something out of “with a bit of coaxing.” I pasted their description into the tea information section when I added this tea to Steepster. Take a look at it. They sold that one super well, didn’t they? Nothing says we think this is a quality offering like more or less stating, “if you fiddle with it, you can get something out of it.” Naturally, I did not find that to be the case at all. Like most of the Gopaldhara teas I have tried, this was a high quality offering that was not finicky in the least. Honestly, it and the Jungpana Classic Autumn Black were my two favorites of the 2016 autumn flush teas I purchased from Teabox, and I do not feel that I am exaggerating in the least when I say that this one was just as good as the other.

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 picked up rather distant aromas of fruit, wood, and nuts from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I noted aromas of dried flowers, apricot, cherry, wood, and roasted nuts. In the mouth, the liquor expressed subtle, delicate, refined notes of wood, rose, dandelion, dried chrysanthemum, roasted almond, cherry, apricot, pear, elderberry, and blackberry with touches of watermelon rind, malt, nutmeg, and raisin lurking around the fringes. The finish was soft and relatively clean, offering pleasant, lingering impressions of almond, dried chrysanthemum, pear, and watermelon rind.

I can see why this was described as being appropriate for people who like lighter teas, but to me, this tea was less light and more subtle. Its smooth texture, lean body, and well-integrated aromas and flavors betrayed considerable depth and complexity for this type of black tea. Because of this, I think this is the sort of tea that would be more appropriate for seasoned drinkers of autumn flush black teas or those looking for a challenging tea that is never less than enjoyable.