Darjeeling 2nd Flush Castleton Moonlight from The Tea Smith

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  White

Where to Buy:  The Tea Smith

Tea Description:

Darjeeling had improved weather conditions this year, and the 2nd flush is a real treat this year. Fresh from the fields, Castleton again has produced a fine sweet tea. The care taken to produce this tea is evident in the beautiful leaves and complete budsets throughout.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This is such a surprising tea! An excellent white leaf that really has stunning taste!

Notes of peach, grape, honey explode with a lovely lingering flavor.

The white tea is interesting – much more robust than your average white tea.

It does have a very nice darjeeling flavor yet a bit more buttery and vegetal than a black darjeeling. What a combination! I did not even know such things existed haha. I am glad I do now and I am glad I got a full 2 ounces of this or I would be ordering more right away!

Now this is one of The Tea Smith’s more “pricy” teas but I tell you what its still a fair price compared to other tea vendors. At a little under 7.00 per ounce, for such a high quality tea, you can’t beat it!

This is most definitely one of those teas you sit with, using your gaiwan or gong fu set up, or cherished china. It is deserving of the best you can brew it with, giving it the attention it deserves. Truly a refined tea. However I feel I could absolutely serve this up to my black tea only – bought in the grocery store – in a bottle friends and they too would love it. Perhaps they would not appreciate it for all of its elements, notes, and flavor profile, but they surely would enjoy every sip, or guzzle as they probably would prefer it iced, which would also be lovely.

Each steep, as with any high quality tea, provides new discoveries and layers of notes, some being of melon, some of berries, some more grassy, or savory, yet with each steep, now up to 4, I am getting more and more that I love about this tea. At one point it was giving over a wonderful honeysuckle note.

The leaf itself both in dry and moist form is gorgeous. Curly leaves of green with some white throughout with hints of almost lime green. I personally do not feel the photo does it justice. This is one I feel I will have to keep sampling to fully discover but it is one that is worthy of reviewing here for you and I highly recommend this tea for you to try.