Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Darjeeling
Where to Buy: Nuovo Tea
Tea Description:
An interesting twist on classic Moroccan Mint tea, which traditionally combines Gunpowder green tea from China with fresh mint. We kept the latter, and replaced the smoky notes of Gunpowder with the muscatel highlights of a Darjeeling from India. The result is very a refreshing cup, with bold, cool minty notes, smooth and relaxing texture and flavor. Very intriguing cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! I’m really liking this Casablanca Twist Green Tea Blend from Nuovo Tea! I don’t usually get all “wow-ed” by a mint tea like this one, but, this one is pretty darned good. Oh, sure, I like mint, and I do enjoy a minty tea every now and again. But I don’t often take a sip of a minty tea and exclaim “Wow!” like I did with this tea.
And what makes this more surprising is the mint level in this tea. This is very minty. I might even go so far as to say it’s too minty had it been with any other tea blend. But, because I am liking the way the peppermint marries with the Darjeeling base, where I can taste subtle tones of muscatel behind the strong mint notes … I have to admit that I like this blend just the way it is! I like the way the lighter, crisper Darjeeling notes play in the background as the cool, refreshing mint struts its stuff in the foreground. I like the change up here, using a Darjeeling tea.
Although, here is where I hit a wall of confusion: this tea is categorized as a “green” tea, but from what I could learn about this blend, the Sungma Summer Darjeeling is used for this blend and to my knowledge, that is considered a “black” Darjeeling.
However, since I steeped it as I would a green tea (180°F for 3 minutes), I find the flavor of the Darjeeling tasting even lighter than it probably would had I brewed it at a higher temperature. I don’t know.
What I do know is this: I like the way the fruity notes of the Darjeeling tea and the crisp peppermint taste together. I think that a tad less peppermint could make this even better, because some of the nuanced flavors of the Darjeeling could make their way forward. As it is though, this is an enjoyable blend – it tastes amazing with a thin slice of lemon!
