Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Darjeeling
Where to Buy: English Tea Store
Tea Description:
Mim Estate from English Tea Store: This is a 2nd flush Darjeeling, grown at 6800 feet above sea level. The tea has a distinctive Muscatel character, with a hint of currant and an almost wine-like taste. It come from Mim in northern India, where you can see the tip of mount Everest on a clear day.
Due to the superb taste and limited production of Darjeelings, these teas are quite expensive. There are many who wish to take advantage of the high prices and as a result there are Darjeeling blends. Regrettably these blends are quite often very poor copies of Darjeeling and in some cases only contain 10% true Darjeeling teas; the balance made up from other production areas. A true estate Darjeeling is your guarantee of quality and genuine Darjeeling tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mim Estate from English Tea Store, while good, is not my all time favorite Darjeeling from Mim Estate. I do love the English Tea Store and have been very happy with most all of my purchases there. I won’t try to suggest I know the difference between one tea from Mim Estate to the next. To me if the tea comes from Mim they should all be comparable right? Perhaps not. This is an area of my tea education I need to do more research on.
I know that English Tea Store states that they are selling a true darjeeling and I have no doubt of the accuracy of that as I have found the English Tea Store to be reputable and having excellent customer service. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the impostors and simply prefer those or perhaps I have been very blessed to have some beyond excellent darjeeling. Whatever the case may be I find this Mim Darjeeling to be good, very good, but not excellent.
Now please, don’t get me wrong, this tea is quite good! It is robust, has the muscatel note, but I would prefer a bit stronger on the muscatel. I have also found some Darjeeling to be somewhat peachy in flavor and I adore that note, which this tends to be lacking. There is just the right amount of astringency however which is notable as a positive.
It is a smooth tea, perfect for morning or afternoon with some tea sandwiches. I am having a cucumber sandwich with mine today and it is lovely. I think however the reason it is so lovely with my sandwiches is because it is fairly bland and does not compete with my otherwise mellow food flavors.
Overall this is noticeably darjeeling and a good robust cup with the right amount of astringency, a mellow muscatel note, and a typical darjeeling drying effect, excellent for food pairings, but I don’t think I would enjoy it as much as a tea to sip on without a meal.
