Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
Handpicked from superior P126 clonal bushes at the Halmari Tea estate, the opulent appearance of the tea is characteristic of an almost equal combination of black and golden tipped leaves with a smooth texture. Carved out selectively from specially plucked tender young shoots, the tea brings in a unique rich maltiness which is only found in select Assams during the peak second flush tea growing season. The flavor is exhilarating with a perfect balance of strength, full-body and smoothness. This unique clonal tea brings in a sweet fruity finish in the mouth with a lingering aftertaste. The highest grade GTGFOP1 CL leaves prepare a sharp infusion which can be brewed several times. A bright golden amber liquoring cup greets your eyes when you strain out the royal dark brownish infusion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So very lovely! I love it when I discover an Assam like this one: Rich, full-flavored with a whole lot of MALT!
The dry leaf is quite beautiful. Dark, chocolate-y brown, curly leaves with golden tips lots of golden tips. To brew these beauties, I measured a bamboo scoop into the basket of my Kati tumbler and added 12 ounces of hot water (205°F). I let it steep for 2 1/2 minutes.
The tea brews up dark. It has a deliciously sweet aroma with notes of earth and leather.
The flavor is bold! This is one of those teas that would serve you well as a morning tea if you’re looking for one. It’s smooth with a moderately astringent tail. It’s got that robust quality of earth and leather but it also has a pleasant malty, caramel-y sweetness that balances out the edgy flavors.
A really invigorating tea – this would take the additions of milk and honey really well if you like to add those to your cuppa, it’s also quite nice served straight up.
Rara Willow White Tea from Nepali Tea Traders
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Tea Information:
A classic, aromatic, second-flush white tea. Meaning? It’s sweet and fruity with subtle classic white tea notes. There’s also citrus notes to be noticed subtly in the finish. This is a fine example of a white tea! It’s a summer harvest that’s hand-picked – one leaf and one bud.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I reviewed this tea last year but I’m revisiting it for a couple of reasons: first, it was part of my January box (themed “Fresh Start”) from Amoda Tea. Second, it’s an amazing tea that I’m only too happy to be enjoying once again.
I think I’d like to start this review by pointing out that I just love the boxes that Amoda Tea curates! They have great taste when it comes to tea and it’s evident in the teas that they select that they are very passionate about tea. If you haven’t yet tried their new monthly subscription, you’re missing out!
This is an excellent white tea. I described it previously as a trip to the candy shop on Main Street in Disneyland – the flavor of this tea reminds me of those yummy rock sugar lollipops I used to buy there! That description still pretty much nails my first impression of this tea – it’s sweet and delightful.
Once your palate becomes acclimated to the sweetness, you start to pick up on light citrus notes, especially noticeable near the finish. I find this citrus-y note to be very refreshing. My palate feels clean and invigorated after each sip.
As I said in that previous review: this is a tea that all tea drinkers should try. It’s a remarkable white tea. One of the finest I’ve ever tasted. It resteeps beautifully too – the second infusion is just as delicious as the first!
Giddapahar Muscatel Darjeeling Second Flush Black Tea from Golden Tips
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
An excellent second flush Darjeeling with an abundance of natural muscatel. A handpicked tea from the Giddhpahar tea estate in Darjeeling with gentle fruity notes, a rich aroma and a complete rounded flavor which is a defining characteristic of premium summer Darjeeling teas. A must-have for anytime of the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, love! LOVE! This has the muscatel that I adore!
This is an excellent Darjeeling, one of the best that I’ve tried. The flavor is strong – this is a stronger tasting Darjeeling than the typical light-to-medium bodied Darjeeling. I’d categorize this as a medium-to-full bodied Darjeeling!
It has a really nice, well rounded flavor. It almost tastes too strong and well rounded for a Darjeeling because I typically think of them as crisper and lighter teas. This is much more robust and satisfying. I daresay, it would make a nice morning cuppa. Typically, I think of Darjeeling as an afternoon tea.
And it’s remarkably smooth too! This doesn’t have the astringency that I normally experience with a Darjeeling.
So, if the first few paragraphs of this review indicate anything to you, it should be that this is NOT your typical Darjeeling! Not by a long shot.
The flavor starts off sweet with notes of wood and grape. There is some of that Darjeeling ‘crispness’ right at the start, but as it moves to mid-sip, the flavor develops and becomes a richer experience for the palate. The grape flavor intensifies! By the finish, I’m getting a really lovely muscatel finish, but without a strong astringency. This has all that is really GREAT about a 2nd flush Darjeeling and none of the bad!
This is best hot. I think that this is true of most Darjeeling tea. However, I do recommend letting it cool for a few minutes before you start sipping. I find that the muscatel really shines through best after it’s had time to cool for about three or four minutes.
This Darjeeling is one that EVERY tea drinker should try.
Thurbo Moonlight Second Flush Darjeeling Black Tea from Golden Tips
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!
Organic Okayti Silver Needle Second Flush Darjeeling White Tea from Golden Tips
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
Handpicked from the most delicate and tender portions of the tea bush, early morning and just before sunrise, this Okayti White is a class apart. The fluffy silver needles are manufactured to perfection and display an opulence only found in certain select White teas. The nose to the infusion is superb with a delicate character combined with grassy notes which follow sweet hints of honey. The liquor is pale and almost colourless. The flowery character in the flavor is extremely complex and perfectly fruity. With no grassiness at all, the flavor keeps on developing in the mouth once you keep rolling it for a few seconds till it peaks and flushes your mouth with a unique sweetness. If you love white tea, you should not miss this.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, this is a lovely white Darjeeling! It seems like the Darjeeling region focuses primarily on their black tea production, but I find that the white, green and Oolong offerings that I’ve tried to be just as delightful – if not more so! – as the black teas and so when I do discover a white Darjeeling like this one from Golden Tips, I’m a very happy sipper!
To brew this tea, I used my 2 cup teapot (it’s a little ceramic teapot) and I ‘eyeballed’ a measurement of leaves that is approximately 2 bamboo scoops. (These leaves are very fluffy and difficult to measure with an actual bamboo scoop. So I must imagine that my hand is the bamboo scoop.) Then I poured water heated to 170°F into the teapot, put the lid on the teapot and let the tea steep for 3 1/2 minutes. Then I strained the tea into my brand new mug that my daughter gave me for Christmas.
And ah! This is truly a delight to sip.
The flavor is delicate – it is a white tea! – but not as delicate as you might expect! This has a stronger, more assertive flavor than a Chinese Silver Needle, but it’s certainly not as assertive as another leaf type.
It’s sweet with a very pleasant, thick texture. The description above suggests floral notes, and I am tasting those, but I’m also tasting delicious notes of melon and sweet grape. The sweetness comes not only from these fruit notes but also a honey-esque sweetness. There is an enjoyable balance between the fruity notes, floral tones and honeyed sweetness and I like how these play on the palate.
And this is a white tea! That means multiple infusions!
The second cup is darker in color. The first cup was quite light, almost colorless! This time there’s more of a light yellow-amber color to the cup. The flavor is stronger too, but I’m finding that balance between the fruit, floral and honey notes to remain. Each of those flavors is stronger with the second infusion but the flavors are still balanced. The texture seems a little thinner than the first cup and the best way I can think of to describe this difference is that the first cup was almost “creamy” in the consistency although it didn’t taste creamy. The texture of this cup isn’t as creamy.
With later infusions, I noticed the flavors change a little. The honey notes softened somewhat and I started to pick up on distant nutty tones. The tea is still sweet, just not as honey-like. I started to pick up on orchid notes. I could taste floral notes throughout, but I couldn’t really distinguish the flower I was tasting and as I continued to steep these leaves I began to taste more defined notes of orchid and maybe even a hint of honeysuckle.
The grape notes started to become more wine-like to me, too. Like a gentle white wine, but not such a dry or astringent finish as I’d experience from a white wine. Quite lovely!
If you’re one who tends to avoid white teas because you find that they taste too delicate for you, try a Darjeeling white tea like this Okayti Silver Needle. I think you’ll find the flavor more pronounced and much more satisfying!