Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Darjeeling
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
Margarets Hope Muscatel comes from one of the best known gardens Margarets Hope Tea Garden. The dry leaves are black and dark chocolate in colour with fresh floral notes to the nose.
When steeped for 3 mins, it gives a brilliant deep golden liquor. It has a full bodied muscatel flavour with a distinct mint ‘twang’ in the nose. A perfect cup to make your evenings delightful.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2012 Margarets Hope Muscatel (2nd Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers is such an easy tea to drink. It’s light but full bodied, has that wonderful muscatel wine like flavor of fermented grapes, but is accompanied by an almost bubbly mouthfeel.
The tea is also complimented by spiced earth notes and woodsy flavors.
My sample is going on at least 5 to 6 months in age but its flavor is wonderful. I wish I had tried it when it first came out and truly hope I get to experience the 2013 leaf while it is still fresh and full of flavor.
I do love a good darjeeling and this one is slightly different from others I have enjoyed. This has a far more earthy and musk like note to it, which I love, yet a really good balance with its lighter fruity, berry, and red currant notes.
The more the tea cools the more rich and full it becomes. I find it reminding me almost of a pu-erh with notes ranging from peat, oaky, and other aged woods. While the cup begins rather light by the end of the more cooled cup it thickens up and becomes far heavier in the sip.
What an interesting tea! One everyone should try in order to understand a truly wonderful Darjeeling!
Castleton Muscatel (2nd Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
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.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Every time I go to open a new pouch of tea from Darjeeling Tea Lovers, I am so excited for what awaits me. The teas I’ve tried from them so far have been absolutely incredible, and this one is also amazing.
This has such a crisp flavor … there are actually faint notes of mint in the background! The muscatel is a very forward flavor. Sweet and fruity with a fair amount of astringency. The cleansing astringency is somewhat dry and plays to the muscatel notes quite nicely, giving it an almost wine-like finish. In the aftertaste I notice a far off in the distance hint of mint, but otherwise the aftertaste is very clean.
I find this to be a very enjoyable cup of tea – usually with Darjeeling teas, I find that they make a really nice afternoon cup because they aren’t overly energizing; they tend to be more of a calming, relaxing cup of tea. But I find this particular Darjeeling to be more invigorating … I could easily start the day with this! The flavor is very vibrant!
If you are a fan of Darjeeling Teas, you really MUST try the teas from Darjeeling Tea Lovers. Every single tea that I’ve tried from them has been a superb example of what Darjeeling tea should be – and while that definition seems to get broader and broader for me the more I drink Darjeeling, it is one I don’t mind redefining, because I keep finding more to love about Darjeeling – thanks to this company!
2012 Margarets Hope Muscatel (2nd Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
MARGARETS HOPE MUSCATEL comes from one of the best known gardens MARGARETS HOPE TEA GARDEN. The dry leaves are black and dark chocolate in colour with fresh floral notes to the nose.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love Darjeeling, as I’ve attested to on numerous occasions right here on this blog. And with all my years of drinking tea, and even in the few years that I’ve been writing for this blog, it still surprises me how different one Darjeeling can be from another. But there is one characteristic that I look for with all Darjeeling teas: Muscatel. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed the few Darjeeling teas that I’ve tried with little to next-to-no muscatel qualities, but, I am still just a wee bit disappointed when I come across a Darjeeling that doesn’t offer the muscatel character that I seek.
But when I do find the muscatel – this is something to celebrate! And this 2012 Margarets Hope 2nd Flush has muscatel! So much so that they even add the Muscatel to the name of the tea on their website, making this officially: Margarets Hope Muscatel 2012 2nd Flush, according to the Darjeeling Tea Lovers website. So, if you’ve ever read a review of Darjeeling and noted the taster mentioning “Muscatel” and you find yourself wondering … “just what is this ‘muscatel’ anyway?” I recommend getting yourself some of THIS tea and trying it. This tea IS muscatel.
There are those who prefer to call it “grape-like” … but I think that muscatel represents so much more than just the muscat grape. It is a wine-like character that is fruity and sweet, possessing the flavors of not just a fermented grape but also a hint of black currant. It possesses the dryness that one often associates with a fine wine. But it is still more with its hints of musky spice and wood and subtle earth tones. To call it “grape” seems to miss the point entirely. It is far more than the simple grape.
This tea has a fuller body than I normally associate with a Darjeeling, which I typically consider a lighter tasting tea. Now, this tea is indeed lighter than say an Assam, but it has a fuller body than some of the lighter Darjeeling teas, it’s smoother, not quite as crisp and “bubbly.” It’s almost like a Ceylon – body/texture wise – but with the delectable fruit notes and sweetness of a Darjeeling.
A truly remarkable Darjeeling experience – this one may be my favorite yet from Darjeeling Tea Lovers!
Goomtee Silver Green 2nd Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
GOOMTEE SILVER GREEN is a visual delight for GREEN TEA LOVERS. This tea comes with a lot of SILVER NEEDLES to add glory to this wonderful and rare tea. Each sip is an instant trip to blissful nirvana.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh… this is nice!
I am absolutely loving this Goomtee Silver Green! It’s not at all what I expected when I first opened the package. As I usually do when I first open a package of tea, I inhaled deeply to take in the fragrance. It had a very vegetative and earthy fragrance, reminding me of the forest floor here in the Pacific Northwest – earthy, mossy, and woody.
Once it’s brewed it takes on a stronger vegetative tone, reminding me a bit of the smell that I’d experience while walking through the “green” section of the produce area in a natural foods market. Very green. Very fresh.
The taste is not quite as vegetative as I would have expected given the strong vegetative and earthy tones I experienced from smelling the dry leaf. Sure, it’s still vegetative, but, it is more like mild vegetables, like something between a steamed artichoke and steamed spinach, with a lovely buttery undertone. It’s remarkably smooth and free of that bitter grassy tone that green teas can sometimes possess. It has a slight astringency to it … but again, not nearly as much as I would expect from a Darjeeling green.
But it still has much of what I would expect from a Darjeeling green, too. It has that crisp, vibrant taste that is almost bubbly. Hints of fruit notes, although with this green variety the fruit notes are not as strongly pronounced as they might be with an oxidized Darjeeling. Hints of spice as well, but again, a mellower spice note than what I might experience from an oxidized Darjeeling.
A spectacular tea, I just love the sweetness of this cup, as well as the deliciously satisfying broth-y taste. It is very comforting, a nice cuppa to enjoy with the cooler weather of autumn.
Giddapahar White Orchid – 2nd Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
This tea has been made from PURE AV2 plants at an elevation of 6500 ft. A specialised team of tea pluckers pluck the finest 2 leaf and a bud under the full moon beam. No wonder this tea is distinctive from the others.
It gets its name ‘WHITE ORCHID’ as Giddapahar T. E. Is situated in the town of Kurseong which is also known as ‘The Land of White Orchids’ as this valley produces some high quality WHITE ORCHIDS.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! Just wow! This is a white tea?
When someone says “white tea,” thoughts of a pale, delicately flavored tea come to mind. Even now, even after all the tea that I’ve tried, even after trying some intensely flavored, pure white teas … the majority of the white teas tend to have a very “light” overall characteristic, and therefore evoke the thoughts of a very soft taste.
But this white tea simply shatters those thoughts immediately, with the very first sip. Yes, it does have a delicate quality to it, but, that certainly isn’t the first thing that comes to my attention. I first note a sharp floral note that tells me exactly why this tea is called “White Orchid.” This flowery note is not at all delicate! It is there … and it is quite bold.
It isn’t until the tea cools just slightly that the delicate qualities of this tea come into focus. Beneath the bold flavor of the orchid (which, I guess it could be argued is a rather delicate flower and perhaps the term delicate applies), there is a light, crisp note. Here is where the real “delicate” quality that I mentioned previously comes in. The flavor goes from a very powerful floral note to a much softer set of flavors … and while the presentation is on the delicate side, it is incredibly complex. I taste layers of fruit (white grape, hints of peach, and even a honey-like tone that evokes thoughts of Honeycrisp apples), whispers of an airy quality, and sweet notes of vegetation.
This is one of the most amazing white teas I’ve yet to taste. It is deliciously sweet, floral and possesses such an intriguing complexity. It is refreshingly full-flavored. This is a white tea for those who seek to challenge their previous thoughts about white tea. This is unlike any white tea I’ve tried before, and I love it!