Biodynamic Darjeeling

Despite the fact that I’ve been drinking tea, I’m find it difficult to actually write tasting notes that I think are worth reading. Not sure why that is, but it feels kind of silly to write if my heart isn’t properly into it.

It could have to do with the fact that the right side of my jaw and neck are sore; I think a wisdowm tooth might be crowding its way into my life, because it’s a kind of pain I’ve felt before, but it eventually went away on its own. Who knows what’ll happen this time.

Anyway, this morning I was in the mood for a tea that was plain but delicious, and this fit the bill. I didn’t have to think too hard. I do wish I’d brewed it a touch stronger, but it was still a reasonably satisfying cup. I still think I’d like to experiment with other darjeelings, as although I like this one, I can’t say I’m particularly in love with it. I’m still working on developing a vocabulary to describe darjeeling, but the first darj I ever had was from Art of Tea, and it had a very appley feel to it. It didn’t taste remotely of apple, but it somehow felt like the skin of one nonetheless. And smoothe wood. Somehow I’m not getting that from this darjeeling, although I’ve also had this package for a while, so this may very well be my fault. I’m also a bit intimidated by the fifty million darjeelings that many companies seem to have with different letters and numbers and it’s all just so overwhelming!

This is my third sample provided by The Tea Merchant. I need to look this up on their website as I don’t know what they mean by ‘biodynamic’, anyway my experience with Darjeeling is a bit limited. I have a bagged Darjeeling from Mother Parker with Saturday breakfast, and I used to drink loose Ahmad Darjeeling. I view the opportunity to taste this tea today as continuing education.

Removing a scoop of leaf from the bag reveals this is CTC, but as has been discussed before, that is not an indication of quality. It is actually a very typical production method for black tea. The scent reminds me of unscented pipe tobacco leaf.

Steeped for 3 minutes with almost boiling water resulted in a golden amber color brew that appears more orange as I pour. The sip is a bit different than I expected. It actually does have an apple like character. When hot it feels brightly tart (astringent?) on the sides of the tongue. This disappears as the cup cools. The apple flavor becomes more apple wood as it cools. Then the traditional muscatel flavors I was expecting begin to show through. At one point I thought I caught cinnamon hints. This seems a bit drying. A really nice cup with no bitterness. It has me craving breakfast.

I still hate January, but the dazzling (cold!) sun on the tree branches makes it look a little like Narnia out my front window.

Because I may have to hock my firstborn to pay this month’s heating bill, I’m following several of you in an austerity plan to drink up what I have open…and this was.

It’s a fine darjeeling with lots of apple-peel, fruity character; not much to say that differs from my initial tasting note on this one.

As my tea horizons continue to broaden, there are so many wondrous varieties that I’m crazy about, but I can’t say I’ve landed on a wondrous darjeeling that makes me want to tap dance or clutch the cup in ecstasy. But I don’t mind looking…

This tea tricked and impressed me. I received it yesterday as one of four free samples from The Tea Merchant – thank you! It came wrapped up in brown tissue paper with a golden wax seal. LOVED that. I steeped up a cuppa this darjeeling this afternoon and must admit it’s my first darjeeling. While I love black teas, I have not experienced a darjeeling yet so I didn’t know what I was in for. The aroma was a bit musty and reminded me of barns and animals – not in a negative way, but in a hay-ish sort of way. No poo smell, I swear.

Steeped for three minutes, I have a surprisingly light orangeish liquor which shares the aroma of the dry leaf, but more refined somehow. It’s like the dry aroma was a fuzzy picture and the steeped liquor is it’s sharper cousin. The taste is impressive – again, it’s clearly a black tea but really good quality. It’s smooth and has a hint of astringency underneath the tea. I find it hard to describe, other than black tea. My words are failing me today.. EDIT: After reading other reviews, malty totally fits what I am getting here. It’s very malty – I don’t know what muscatel means, really, so I can’t speak to that but it reminds me of rich beer, almost.

I must say that I thought the leaves were a bit small for a pure tea and I expected that to translate into more bitterness, but it doesn’t seem to have. I expected fuller leaf, but this doesn’t suffer for the breakage that is there. Solid black tea – not my favourite, but certainly would make a good standard black in the cupboard.

Thank you again to The Tea Merchant for these samples.

Compared to second flushes, I am not much of a fan of first flush Darjeelings. This is one of the better ones I’ve had though. It’s very sweet, and I get lots of citrus and other fruits…grapes of course and just a hint of apple. It’s floral, but not too heavy. It’s a very light cup as you’d expect with a first flush, complete though with that shot of astringency that makes me love Darjeelings.

I’ll stick with SFs but this isn’t bad at all!

The sample from The Tea Merchant is huge! I actually added this one to my cupboard just because of the size of it. I do not normally add samples to my cupboard!

This is a light, fruity, sparkling, darjeeling. I do not have much experience with Darjeeling yet, not nearly as much as I have with some other teas. I am very much enjoying this cup!
It is of a high quality, very easily sippable, and a nice light black tea!

As I said there is a sparkling sensation in the mouth, and a very bright mouthfeel.
I get notes of malt but very light notes, there is a flavor and aroma of hay fields, some peachy notes that peek out bashfully now and then which then change to an apple note in the aftertaste. I also get an almost floral flavor that turns to a woodsy one. LOL this is a wonderful experience!

I would keep this in my stash! Going on the shopping list.

Oh and as others have said – their packaging is darling!

Thank you to The Tea Merchant for sending me these samples! I look forward to trying them all, but I thought I’d start today with this Darjeeling. I adore Darjeeling, and this one is so lovely!

I taste notes of wood, spice, apple and muscatel within each sip. I like that the tea is not too much of any one of these things, it is sweet, crisp and light, and keeps the palate fascinated with it’s ability to offer so much without being overwhelming.

A really lovely afternoon tea, even if it is 9 pm!

Thanks to The Tea Merchant for this sample! I am woefully unfamiliar with the intricacies of Darjeelings, but I’d like to broaden my experience with them and I think this is an excellent place to start. They’re a really interesting type of tea—much lighter than a black, but with flavor profiles really different from a green/oolong/white/etc. Actually, maybe a bit similar to an oolong in complexity, and I think there are some Darjeelings that ARE oolongs so I suppose that makes sense! And they brew up so pale—this one is a soft, almost peachy amber.

It smells a little bit like an English Breakfast, but with much softer flavors. The dominant taste to me is woodsy and a bit fruity, apple or grape? It’s faint but crisp, and melds into a softly floral background. It’s very full-tasting, and it lingers in your mouth for quite a while. It’s also quite sweet with no additions, and I’ve gotten 3 good steeps out of it so far!

This is the only quality Darjeeling I’ve tried so I have nothing to compare it to, but I enjoyed it! A very different tea experience, and it left me feeling a bit contemplative. And for some reason, I think this would be really nice cold-brewed, so I’ll be trying it out that way soon!

Big thanks to the Tea Merchant for such a big sample! I am gonna enjoy every ounce :)
The tea itself is quite lovely. Smooth and fruity… but while some other people found mostly muscatel, I could swear I found crisp honey apple! with a little muscatel. and not much astringency at all, which was nice. Must be the Biodynamic part that makes it taste so durn nummy.
My second infusion I added a touch of honey and that was good to, but the first cuppa was better.
Next up, I try this iced! Mmmmm.
Rating: 87

I’m starting the day with samplings from the grab bag Tasty Brew added to our BBB Box, so that I can get this box in the mail! This one has a definite apple peel taste, with a bright grapiness around the sides of the tongue. It’s a little on the astringent side, & I’d probably better eat breakfast before I sample any more, LOL, as my stomach doesn’t take well to astringency when empty.