Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
This week’s Tea of the Week is brought to you by Linda R. who emailed me and requested: “Frank, I’d love it if you could do something with mango and pineapple for the summer – maybe with a honeybush or a green rooibos, or even a green tea. Thanks!”
I did take the liberty of switching up the base a bit. I had this creative itch. I kept thinking, I wonder what those tropical flavors would taste like paired with a nice muscatel Darjeeling… So I decided I should find out. The answer, I believe, is: Delicious!
I started with a nice blend of first flush FTGFOP* Darjeelings, added some freeze-dried mango and pineapple and organic mango and pineapple flavors and… yummmmm! But you’ll just have to try it for yourself. Don’t miss out. This, like all of our weekly teas, is a limited edition blend.
*FTGFOP stands for Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, or “Far Too Good For Ordinary People” as the industry joke goes. It just indicates this is a longer leaf style.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I was pretty excited to try this Mango Pineapple flavored Darjeeling tea from 52Teas. In the many years that I’ve been a customer of 52Teas – I’m a subscriber! – I can only recall one other Darjeeling blend. I know that their black tea blend that they used as a base had some Darjeeling in it at one time, but as far as a solo Darjeeling base goes, the only tea I recall is the Dreamsicle Darjeeling. And I did enjoy that tea, so I was happy to try a new flavored Darjeeling.
The fragrance of the dry leaf is very appealing to the sweet tooth: it has a sweet, fruity and almost candy-like scent to it, reminding me of a tropical bubble gum or something. I didn’t smell a lot of “Darjeeling” to the dry leaf, though. The brewed liquid has a lighter aroma. The sweet fruit notes have softened quite a bit, and I can now smell notes of Darjeeling: hints of earth, flower and even whispers of grape. These notes meld quite beautifully with the sweet notes of pineapple and mango.
The first time I brewed a cup of this tea for myself, I was a little disappointed by the flavor. I suspect that this is because the temperature may have been too hot, which is why I tried again with a second cup.
The first cup ended up tasting very much like the aforementioned bubble gum. It even seemed to have a somewhat creamy, almost “gummy” texture to it that I didn’t really find all that enjoyable. I could taste the pineapple and the mango, though, as well as notes of the Darjeeling, but the base tasted a little bit bitter and the finish was a little to astringent for my liking, so I decided to try again and watch the temperature a little closer this time.
Much better! Keep the temperature below boiling! Of course, I usually do this with a Darjeeling anyway, but because I’m without my Breville One-Touch for the time being, I’m a little out of practice with gauging the water temperature by sight. I miss that variable temperature kettle feature on the One-Touch!
So this time, I didn’t walk away from the stove, and I didn’t let the water reach the boiling point. I steeped the tea for just 2 minutes, and this is much, much tastier than the first cup. The mango and the pineapple are quite compatible in the teacup, offering a tropical flavor that is sweet with a little bit of tangy. The fruit notes are bright and vibrant.
There is still a somewhat “creamy” note to this, but it isn’t gummy the way the first cup was. In that first cup, as I stated, the gumminess was a little weird and not in the most pleasant way. But now that it’s creamy and not gummy, I’m not put off by it.
The Darjeeling is much nicer this time around too: light, crisp, and refreshing. I taste notes of grape and earth in the background, and a woodsy tone that marry in a very captivating way with the fruit flavors … it keeps me sipping!
It’s a very unexpected tropical taste, but, I like it. It adds a touch of “exotic” to something that is already exotic. A unique and interesting cuppa!
