Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
An incredible black tea made entirely of young buds, the smoothest black tea we have tried with a refined malty taste and no bitterness or astringency.
We are proud to source all our Nepal teas direct from Greenland Organic Farm, who are very much at the forefront of a burgeoning Nepali tea industry dedicated to producing high quality artisanal teas. Greenland Organic Farm are completely pesticide and chemical free farm dedicated to producing tea in an ethical and fair manner. Greenland Organic Farm is located in East Nepal in the shadows of Mt. Kancghenjunga at an altitude of 3,000m.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh my goodness, these Golden Tips from Nepal are so lovely!
The dry leaf is visually stunning. The coloration of the leaves vary from a chocolate brown to a golden brown. The tips are golden (as the name implies!) It’s very fragrant, smelling of fruit and flower with notes of earth. The brewed liquid smells much like the dry leaf.
I steeped this tea in my Breville One-Touch using 500 ml of freshly filtered water and 2 bamboo scoops of tea. I steeped it at 205°F for 2 1/2 minutes and … the tea tastes simply amazing!
Honey! Malt! Cacao! Caramel! Sweet notes of fruit! Hints of flower!
The mouthfeel is pleasant. Thick and smooth, it feels a little bit like thinned honey as the tea glides over the palate. And it tastes like honey too. This tea is rich and full-flavored.
The malty notes marry beautifully with the caramel-y undertone to create a rich, satisfying sweetness. The notes of cacao are bittersweet. As I continue to sip, I start to pick up on warm notes of spice. This is a cozy tasting tea and as the weather has finally begun to cool the warmth from this tea is certainly welcome. It’s a cozy, comforting cup of tea to enjoy.
Many of the Nepalese black teas that I’ve tasted are more reminiscent of Darjeeling but not so with this one. This doesn’t have that crisp, lightness of a Darjeeling, instead, this is richer, reminiscent perhaps of a Golden Yunnan or a Fujian Black.
This tea is also good for two infusions, so be sure to re-steep those leaves and get all the flavor you can out of them! The second infusion is just as delightful as the first!
This is not a tea that I would reach for on the mornings when I need to get up and go. Instead, this is the tea I’d want to reach for on the mornings when I can curl up under a fluffy blanket and just relax a little. The kind of tea that you want to linger over for a while because it tastes so good that you don’t want the cup to end!
It is as I said at the start: this is oh-so-lovely!
2014 Castleton Maharaja First Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
Castleton Maharaja is one tea which we are sure you will not want to miss. After recording THE WORLD MOST EXPENSIVE TEA last season, they are back again with a BIG BANG!!!
Everything about this tea is perfect to make it a wonderful First Flush Tea. The dry leaves are well rolled and fine sorted. The initial appearance is very bright. When brewed for 4 minutes, it gives a beautiful bright yellow cup. The aroma will remind you that THIS IS A CASTLETON TEA, a very peach like sweetness with high flowery notes which tempts to have a sip immediately. The flavour is also very smooth, it starts and finishes very well. There is no sign of ‘harshness’ all you feel is a sweet floral flavour which lingers into your mouth for long. The aftertaste is very energetic and a bouquet of floral tone to it.
This tea has raised the standards of our First Flush Catalogue. Without any doubt, this qualifies for becoming the BENCHMARK TEA this season. A must have for every tea connoisseur.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really delightful tea! Then again, I’m not surprised. I’ve yet to be disappointed by any tea that I’ve tried from Darjeeling Tea Lovers!
To steep this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch tea maker. I measured 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket and then poured 500ml of freshly filtered water into the jug of the tea maker. I set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and the temperature for 195°F. Then I let the tea maker do it’s thing, and when I returned a few minutes later, I had a pot of tea ready to enjoy.
The brewed tea is a light yellowish amber color and has a vibrant scent of peaches and flowers. It’s a very inviting aroma.
And I’m happy to say that the aroma translates to the brewed tea! This Castleton Maharaja has an amazing peach flavor that melds beautifully with floral notes. Sometimes a tea’s floral essence can be a tad bit sharp but that isn’t the case with this tea. It’s so smooth and sweet. Not sharp or bitter. There is very little astringency to this cup. There is a slight dryness to the aftertaste which follows a really lovely sweetness. The dryness seems to cleanse the palate a little, readying it for the next sip. This is a tea that keeps you sipping, and it tastes so good that you don’t want to stop!
The sip begins with a sweet note that evokes a thought of a lightly sugared peach. The peach flavors develop as the sip progresses and continue into the aftertaste. As I reach mid-sip, I notice notes of flower and a slight woodsy tone in the distance. The overall sip is very crisp and light and beautifully sweet. It has that bubbly light flavor that you expect from a Darjeeling tea, but it’s much smoother than you might expect.
I am loving this Castleton Maharaja from Darjeeling Tea Lovers. It seems like every time I try one of their teas, I’m bowled over with how good it is. This company is one you should definitely try, especially if you’re one who is as fond of Darjeeling teas as I am. You won’t be disappointed by anything in their collection!
Darjeeling 1st Flush 2014 Jogmaya White Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A brilliant white tea composed of whole leaves with a silky texture, combined with a gentle grass taste and wonderfully light finish with hints of spice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have enjoyed many different types of white teas in my years as a tea reviewer. And while I do enjoy the many different types of white teas that I’ve tasted, I think I’m finally comfortable saying that my favorite white teas are Darjeeling white teas.
And this Darjeeling Jogmaya White Tea from What-Cha Tea is absolutely stunning! It’s so good! The dry leaves have a distinct grassy aroma with a soft floral note. I can smell a light, fruity sweetness in the background.
To brew this tea, I decided to reach for my Kati Brewing System. I measured 1 1/2 bamboo scoops into the basket of the Kati tumbler (I usually use a little more leaf when it comes to white teas because the leaves are considerably “bulkier”. I heat freshly filtered water to 170°F and poured the water into the tumbler and let the leaves steep for 3 minutes. 
Sweet and delicious! As with other white teas, the overall cup is delicate, but I generally find that Darjeeling white teas are a little less subtle in the flavor department than most other teas and that is the case with this Jogmaya White tea. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy them so much!
Or it could be the amazing spice notes of a Darjeeling white. This tea has a warm, zesty spice note. Think white pepper. Maybe not exactly white pepper, but think of the first time you tasted white pepper and how you noticed the gentler pepper note. It still tasted of pepper but it was definitely more subdued. That’s what I taste now, a soft, subtle spice note that is a little warm and zesty. Perhaps not as abundantly “spiced” as I might experience in say a Yunnan black tea, but there is absolutely some zippy spices that are capturing my taste buds’ attention.
This has a nice body to it, it’s silky and smooth. Notes of sweet grass and whispers of flower. I can taste notes of fruit as well. Melon and a crisp apple note. As I continue to sip, I start to pick up on a slight grape-y flavor.
This is a very refreshing white Darjeeling. The sip starts with grassy notes and almost immediately after I experience those notes, I start to pick up on the aforementioned gentle spice notes. As the sip progresses toward mid-sip, I taste the medley of fruit notes: melon, apple, and a touch of grape. As I reach the end of the sip, I taste a slight floral note that melds with the fruit. The sip ends with a slight dryness and the aftertaste is clean and slightly sweet.
A really enjoyable cup. What-Cha Tea delivers … again!
2014 Darjeeling 2nd Flush Goomtee Oolong Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A delightful oolong tea which evolves and develops with each subsequent brew. A great fruity nose with a complex taste of orange and spice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really happy to try this Darjeeling Oolong from What-Cha Tea. Darjeeling Oolong teas tend to be a bit more difficult to find and they’re so lovely that whenever I have the opportunity to try them, I’m excited!
And my excitement was justified because this second Flush Goomtee Oolong is really quite delightful!
I brewed this Darjeeling Oolong the same way I’d brew other Oolong teas, using my gaiwan. I heated the water to 180°F and measured out 1 bamboo scoop of leaves and placed them in the bottom of the gaiwan bowl. Then I gave the tea a quick rinse (15 seconds) and discarded the liquid, and then proceeded to infuse the tea for 45 seconds for the first infusion and then for each subsequent infusion, I added 15 seconds onto the steep time. My first cup was composed of a combination of the first two infusions; the second cup was a combination of infusions 3 and 4, and so on.
My first impression of this tea? Deliciously sweet and fruity! I taste the promised notes of orange and spice. I also taste a sweet, grape-y note. It’s quite smooth and very pleasant to sip. A little earthy and woodsy, with delicate spice notes that are peppery and warm.
Later infusions offered even more fruit notes. I started to pick up on an apple-y note in the second cup (infusions 3 and 4). The sweetness of the cup reminded me almost of a brown sugar sweetness. The cup is smooth yet crisp and vibrant. The light spice notes perk up the flavor.
What I love about Darjeeling Oolong teas like this is that they offer the best of Darjeeling and of Oolong in one cup. It’s smooth and creamy like I’d experience from an Oolong, but I am still tasting notes that are familiar with a second flush Darjeeling teas. I can taste notes of muscatel and the wonderfully warm spice notes and gentle woodsy tones.
With the third cup (infusions 5 and 6), the flavors became a little more unified and soft. The spice tones were not quite as defined as they were in the first two cups, but I found the sweetness from the fruit notes as well as that sweet brown sugar-y note more than made up for the waning spice notes.
This is a really lovely tea. I enjoyed its many infusions (I infused this tea a total of eight times!) finding that the 2nd cup was my favorite because the spice notes were still quite zesty and I liked the way these spice tones married with the fruit notes.
I highly recommend this tea to both lovers of Darjeeling and of Oolong! You’ll really enjoy this tea!
Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Cannon Ball Green Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A unique tightly rolled green tea with a citrus nose and well defined lemon blossom taste, a rare and unusual tea which is not to be missed.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
These leaves look very unusual, looking like the pellets of a Tie Guan Yin Oolong, but the leaves are not quite as large. The pellets are not uniform in size, some are quite small, while others are rather large. They have a vegetal aroma to them.
Since they looked to me like they’d be fun to watch unfurl, I decided to brew them in my glass teacup (the same one I use to watch a flowering tea bulb brew). The first infusion proved to be rather … lacking in show, to be quite honest. The leaves didn’t unfurl very much at all. But they did produce a very flavorful liquid after steeping for 2 minutes in 180°F water.
Nice! The tea is sweet, with a nice, buttery texture and a light flavor. Notes of citrus, flower and hints of vegetation. The citrus is especially noticeable toward the finish and this bright flavor lingers into the aftertaste. By the time I made it to mid-cup, I started to notice more buttery flavors than citrus and flower, the flavor becomes smoother as it cools.
Since the leaves hadn’t really opened up much with that first infusion, I decided to have another infusion and see if I would get more of a tea leaf dance from the leaves that were still looking more like tightly wound pellets.
During the second infusion, the leaves didn’t do much. Oh, they’ve unfurled quite a bit more, but they don’t really do much of a dance that I had hoped for. But that’s alright, the flavor is well worth the lack of showmanship. (Showteaship? Showleafship?) When they infused this time, it looked a lot like a seaweed garden at the bottom of the sea – not a lot of activity, just the motion of the water just barely causing the leaves to sway a little.
But as I said, the flavor is well worth what little show the leaves provide. After steeping for 2 1/2 minutes, the flavor is sweet with notes of tangy citrus and whispers of flower. I don’t taste as much buttery taste or texture this time, and the vegetal notes have emerged, offering a savory quality to the cup which contrasts with the aforementioned sweetness. As the cup cools a little, the buttery flavors are more discernible, but they are still considerably lighter than with the first cup.
This cup is a little more astringent than the first too. I didn’t notice a lot of astringency with the first cup, only the slight tangy note toward the finish that melded with the citrus-y notes that it barely seemed astringent at all. Now, there is a distinct separation between the citrus flavors and the astringency. This is still what I’d consider a mild to moderate astringency.
I decided to try a third infusion. With this third infusion, the leaves are now completely unfurled. I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes. The flavor is amazing. I think that this third cup is my favorite of the three! It is soft and buttery. The astringency I noted in the second cup has smoothed out. The citrus tones have also become softer and sweeter, reminiscent now of a citrus curd rather than a bright splash of fruit. The floral notes are not as sharp and the vegetative tones less focused, creating instead a very unified flavor that is very palatable.
While this Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Cannon Ball Green Tea from What-Cha Tea shares many common characteristics with other green teas, I find it to be a truly unique green tea in ways that should be experienced by the tea connoisseur to be fully appreciated. It’s a remarkable tea, one I really enjoyed and am thrilled that I had the opportunity to try.