Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
GOPALDHARA WONDER ‘GOLD’ one of the most popular tea among the Darjeeling Tea Connoisseurs. A very limited stock is manufactured from the YOUNG TEA PLANTATIONS of this garden and this particular lot has been tagged as GOLD due to the supreme quality.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf looks a lot more like a green tea than a black tea. The aroma is pleasantly floral. Because the leaves are more “green” than black, I would advise not going higher than 195°F to brew this tea – that’s what I used and I’m quite pleased with the result. This is my usual ‘go-to’ temperature when it comes to Darjeeling teas, because they don’t seem to be as fully oxidized as other black teas are, even though they are usually categorized as a black tea. Darjeeling teas tend to be a little more delicate and should be treated differently.
I brewed these beautiful pale green, silvery tipped leaves in my Breville One-Touch. I used 2 bamboo scoops of leaf and 500ml of water heated to 195°F, and steeped the leaves for 2 ½ minutes. As I said before, I’m quite pleased with the resulting tea. Delicious!
Then again, I’ve been blown away by all the teas that I’ve tried from this company. Let me tell you, Darjeeling Tea Lovers KNOWS Darjeeling tea. If you’re a devotee of Darjeeling tea, this is a company you should be exploring. They have some of the very best Darjeeling teas I’ve ever tasted.
And this Gopaldhara Wonder Tea is indeed a wonder! Wonderful, that is! Sweet, crisp and refreshing! The liquid is somewhere between gold and green. It’s much paler than many Darjeeling teas that I’ve had this year. And it has a “greener” sort of taste to me. It tastes lighter and cleaner than a typical “black” Darjeeling. This doesn’t have that “muscatel” flavor that you might expect from a Darjeeling. This tea seems more focused on the sweet, delicate notes of flower. I taste notes of jasmine! Nice!
There are also delicate vegetal notes. Not so much vegetable (as in steamed veggies) as it is lightly grassy. But this is a sweet grassy note, not a bitter one. The sip starts out sweet and I pick up on the floral notes right away. Toward mid-sip, some of those lightly sweet, grassy notes start to come into focus. The sip ends with a floral note that is jasmine-esque, and this flavor lingers into the aftertaste. There is a light astringency at the start of the cup, and this astringency does develop as I continue to sip, but never becomes a really strong or what I would call astringent tea, instead, it’s a moderate astringency that leaves the palate feeling clean and invigorated.
An excellent afternoon tea – break out this tea when you have special guests over that you’re looking to impress! Or save it for an afternoon when you have time to reflect – this is one of those teas that I’d call meditative! The kind of tea that I want to enjoy when I don’t have a 101 different things to do … or the kind of tea I want to enjoy when I do have 101 things to do but I want to forget about them and just enjoy a moment for me!
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!
Goomtee Black Dragon Oolong First Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
Goomtee Black Dragon, an OOLONG comes from a prestigious tea estate of Darjeeling. Gomtee produces some of the best teas that we have tasted so far. This oolong is a stand alone tea from their house. Long semi fermented leaves when steeped for 3 minutes gives a roasted chocolate flavour which makes this tea a must try for tea lovers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So far, the teas that I’ve tried from Darjeeling Tea Lovers have been all Darjeeling teas, so I was excited to finally be trying this Goomtee Black Dragon Oolong First Flush from them! An Oolong from the Darjeeling Region, even! Exciting!
The aroma of the dry leaf was earthy and sweet, with notes of an indistinguishable fruit … it had a fruit-like sweetness to the scent but, it was difficult to place exactly what fruit I was smelling. The brewed liquid smells more fruity … a fruit note that lies somewhere between plum and apricot and nectarine. I also smell a distinct “sweet” note that reminds me of cocoa with hints of burnt sugar.
The flavor is superb! Peach-like notes with floral hints. The promises of chocolate from the fragrance come alive in the flavor as well. Not a strong chocolate-y presence but certainly a welcome one. The chocolate notes seem to be more distinct when I aerate the sip with a slurp, so this is a tea that is definitely worth slurping! Yeah, don’t worry about it, nobody’s listening … go ahead and slurp!
The chocolate notes are not “slap you in the face” kind of chocolate notes … but, that’s OK. Yes, the chocoholic that always says more chocolate = better just said that! That’s because I love it when I find a pure tea like this that has natural notes of cocoa. This tea is pure joy!
The texture is soft and smooth and there is some astringency toward the finish. The aftertaste is sweet with just a hint of “tangy” from the stone fruit notes coming through. Subsequent infusions bring the chocolate notes into the foreground! Chocolate lovers … you’ll want to indulge in several infusions with this tea!
I am in agreement with the description above – this tea is definitely a MUST TRY for tea lovers … and for chocolate lovers too!
Castleton Muscatel 2nd Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
CASTLETON MUSCATEL is one of the finest muscatel teas that we have come across this season. This tea has been made from selective leaves that come from PURE CHINA BUSHES at an altitude of 6200 ft above sea level which is ideal for the MUSCAT FLAVOUR.
When this tea is steeped for 3 mins it gives a very SMOOTH MEDIUM GOLDEN LIQUOR which has a rich fruity aroma. With every sip, you get a very rich fruity flavour and it leaves a ‘twang’ of mint in the pallets. A perfect cup to make your mornings delightful.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The moment I removed my brew basket from my cup I could smell the distinct muscatel aroma in this Castleton Muscatel 2nd Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers. My mouth watered in eager anticipation for that first sip. Even though this is not the freshest Darjeeling, since I got it as a sample from one of my SororiTea Sisters, and have had it tucked away for awhile now, it is still delicious! The muscatel flavor is simply divine.
As my SororiTea Sister LiberTeas said it has such a crisp flavor almost a snappish like flavor to it. Like biting into a fresh juicy grape with a thick skin, you get that POP like flavor in the mouth! Perfection! The taste is lightly sweet which I prefer to refer to as naturally sweet, just as nature intended fresh fruit to taste, this tea exemplifies that perfectly! I can’t believe I have not made any of my own purchases from Darjeeling Tea Lovers, but I need to sometime soon.
After looking at their website, I am seeing some of my favorite Darjeeling and some I have yet to try, all in one place, it is like a smorgasbord of Darjeeling, my eyes widened in excitement just browsing the site! Seriously I am having to hold myself back from placing an order until I sip down some of the teas I already have in my stash, plus saving for college for my daughter in the Fall is a bit more pressing right now.
Regardless, if a tea from Darjeeling Tea Lovers from their 2012 harvest, which has been haphazardly stored this long tastes this good, I can’t wait to try some of the fresher and better stored teas!
As for this tea, well this tea, and me, will be spending some precious time alone with a good book, in the sunshine, while it lasts, both the sunshine and the tea.
Jungpana Estate 2nd Flush Golden Tips Darjeeling Tea from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
JUNGPANA GOLDEN TIPS is by far one of the finest available teas. It comes from the prestigious JUNGPANA TEA ESTATE. This tea is special as it has been made with utmost care. The tea is made from the finest clonal plants from the plantations at an altitude of 6000ft. The leaves were handpicked with a trained group of women. The manufacturing process was also done with utmost care.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I adore Darjeeling tea, and some of the finest Darjeeling teas that I’ve ever tasted have come from Darjeeling Tea Lovers! This Jungpana Estate 2nd Flush Golden Tips Darjeeling Tea is a perfect example of the fantastic quality teas that come from this fantastic company.
The dry leaves are beautiful with their golden tips, and they brew up a liquid that is coppery in color and that smells sweet with notes of fruit, earth and wood.
And I like that what I smell is also what I taste. The tea is delightfully sweet without being too sweet. There is a lovely fruit note to this, wine-like, with notes of currant and muscat grape. The finish has a gentle astringency – very slight! For those of you who tend to avoid Darjeeling teas because you aren’t wild about the astringency … I think you’d find this Darjeeling to be more to your liking! The finish is less dry than the typical wine-y Darjeeling.
There are notes of wood, earth and hints of flower to this tea as well. It is quite smooth for a Darjeeling, and I note more body to this … it is not quite as “light” and “sparkling” and in place of the sparkling lightness is a smooth body that is very satisfying.
Another remarkable Darjeeling from Darjeeling Tea Lovers!