Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
Every season the Thurbo Moonlight has been a favorite among our connoisseur friends from across the world. This Moonlight summer black tea is at part the best and is characteristic of fluffy brown-black leaves with extravagant silver tips. The aroma is sweet and flowery with a bright golden liquoring cup. The flavor is extremely fruity and flushes your mouth with its presence, without any sort of astringency.An outstanding second flush Darjeeling.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have enjoyed many different Darjeeling teas during my years as a tea reviewer. If asked whether I prefer a first or second flush, my answer will always be second flush because I love that muscatel flavor and second flush tends to be the flush to drink if you want muscatel. (Although I have found several first flush teas that surprised me with their muscatel notes!) And while I’ve enjoyed many first flush Darjeelings – loved them even! – second flush is still my favorite flush when it comes to Darjeeling.
And this Second Flush Thurbo Moonlight is an example of why I love the second flush so much!
To brew this tea, I decided to use my Breville. I measured 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket and poured 500ml of water into the kettle. I set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and I adjusted the temperature to 195°F. With Darjeeling teas, I find that a slightly lower than boiling temperature brings out the best flavor in the tea. When a higher temperature is used, the tea becomes somewhat bitter and a bit more astringent than I want. The lower temperature does much to keep both of these to a minimum without sacrificing flavor.
The tea brewed to a beautiful, aromatic golden amber. I can smell the grape-like notes – lovely!
The sip starts out sweet with lovely grape-y notes. As the sip progresses, I taste mellow earthy/woodsy tones. These are a nice contrast to the sweetness of the grape. The sip finishes sweet with almost a sugared grape note – this muscatel has a very strong sweetness to it. The sip is very smooth from start to finish and there is no bitterness and very little astringency.
This is one of the nicest Darjeeling teas I’ve tasted in a long time – and I’ve tasted quite a few recently and have enjoyed many of them. This one sets itself apart as exceptional from those that I’ve tried in the past few weeks! If you’re a fan of Darjeeling, you should try this. If you’re someone who is less familiar with Darjeeling but looking for a few good ones to become more familiar with Darjeeling – add this one to the list!
