Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
CASTLETON AUTUMNAL TULIP, as the name suggests is an AUTUMNAL TEA or THIRD FLUSH tea from the estates of CASTLETON TEA ESTATE.
This tea comes with Malty, Muscatel & spicy notes smooth yet complex in flavour. “LIGHT & BRIGHT” is an ideal way to describe this tea. It has a very smooth cup with plenty of sweet muscatel notes. An ideal tea for your breakfast.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet with some spice notes and floral tones. The brewed tea has a fruitier fragrance, smelling a lot more like fruit than flower. I still pick up on sweet and spice, but mostly, I’m picking up on a delightful grape-y scent! You know what that means, right? Muscatel!
Oh yeah! And this tea has the muscatel that you’re looking for! It has a very wine-like taste, with bright, fruity notes that taper to a slight dryness at the finish and the aftertaste is sweet and fruity, with notes of grape and black currant.
The sip starts with a sweet yet spicy note. The malty notes of this tea accentuate the sweetness, although I’m not finding this tea to be overly sweet. I think that the spice notes add enough contrast to the overall flavor to keep this from tasting like your average Darjeeling. This is – in my humble opinion – head and shoulders above that average Darjeeling. I love the muscatel notes here, and I love the crisp, light flavor of the cup.
This is not a heavy tasting black (not surprising, it is a Darjeeling, after all!) and it would make a great tea for mid-morning or early afternoon. The above description suggests this as a breakfast tea, and I could see that too, there is a certain briskness to this cup that is quite invigorating. Although, I wouldn’t add milk to this cup – it would overwhelm the fabulous flavors going on. So, if you’re one who wants milk in your breakfast tea, save this one for the second cup of the day when you are ready for some unfettered tea flavor.
As I continue sipping, I’m picking up on some bright citrus notes that arrive just after mid-sip, and re-emerge in the aftertaste. I don’t usually associate citrus flavors with Darjeeling, but this tea has some sunny notes of lemon! Nice!
There is some astringency to this cup, but, it’s a fairly mellow astringency. It isn’t leaving the insides of my cheeks feeling puckered or dry, although there is a gentle “clean” feeling to my palate.
Another delightful autumnal flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers!
Jungpana Imperial Autumn Flush (2013) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
JUNGPANA IMPERIAL is another wonderful tea in offering this season from the vintage Junpana Tea Garden.
This tea has very high “Autumnal tea flavours”. After drinking this tea, you will feel the whole mouth is full of sweetness and the orchid aroma is lingering between your teeth.
Normally for tea from JUNGPANA, you will easily smell the delicate and sharp aroma after brewing. This tea is no different. A perfect specimen for what AUTUMNAL BLACK TEA should be.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Awesome! This Jungpana Imperial Autumn Flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers is a seriously good tea! I actually found myself questioning whether I’d be happy with it, because when my tea maker finished the brewing of this tea, the liquor seemed rather “light.” And while I’ve had plenty of amazing teas with a lighter liquor like this one, I still have that response, I judge a tea based on its color and this delightful tea just goes to prove that! Don’t pre-judge a tea … let the proof be in the tasting!
I agree with the above description, this tea does have high autumnal flavors. I taste intriguing notes of spice that are contrasted by notes of sweetness. Notes of fruit, earth, wood and flower are also present. It’s a lovely, complex, nicely round cuppa!
Although the color of the liquid is light, there is a pleasing, thick texture to it. Not “heavy” but a rich thickness that gently coats the palate with a delicious sweetness that has notes of fruit (I taste notes of grape, plum, currant and even hints of apple), flower (I don’t know if I’m tasting orchid, but, it’s a lovely floral essence) as well as notes of rustic wood and subtle earth notes that lie beneath the overtones of spice and an almost sugary sweetness.
This is a truly lovely offering from Darjeeling Tea Lovers. If you haven’t yet tried their teas, I highly recommend doing so! Put them at the top of your must try list!
Castleton Autumnal Wonder (2013) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
CASTLETON AUTUMNAL WONDER, a brilliant tea from the CASTLETON TEA ESTATE a garden of GOODRICKE GROUP LTD.
Clonal teas from CASTLETON TEA ESTATE have always been special and rare. One of the most difficult tea to source due to its high demand.
This tea comes from pure AV – 2 bushes which have been very finely plucked during the early mornings (before sunrise) when the dew is present on the leaves. The dew adds more prominent floral flavour to this rare tea. A tea full of fruity floral notes, the aroma of brewed leaves is enough to make your mouth water.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I absolutely LOVE the aroma of these dry leaves! They are sweet and distinctly floral with notes of fruit. The brewed tea smells a bit less floral and more fruity than the dry leaves. There is a slight herbaceous note to the aroma as well, reminding me somewhat of basil.
I love the way the fruit and flower flavors meld. The floral tones are softer in taste than the fruit notes, the fruit notes are profound! There is a muscatel note (grape!) and hints of crisp apple and every once in a while, I swear I could also taste a whisper of apricot in there too. The grape-y notes give this an almost wine-ish taste, complete with a slightly dry finish. The dryness is not abrupt, it’s a smooth finish.
The floral notes are much more subtle, but they offer a nice sweetness to this as well. The aforementioned herbaceous notes translate only slightly to the taste, and I notice these more in the aftertaste than in the actual sip. I draw in a breath across the palate, and I experience a cooling sensation, as if I had one of those tiny mints. (You know which ones I’m talking about, right?) The palate feels clean after a sip.
If you’re a fan of Darjeeling teas, you really need to try some teas from Darjeeling Tea Lovers! Their Darjeeling selections are top-notch, I’m always impressed with the teas that I try from them.
Organic 2014 Risheehat Darjeeling First Flush from Happy Earth Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Happy Earth Tea
Tea Description:
A fragrant tea with floral-fruity notes and a classic Darjeeling first flush briskness from one of the most popular Organic tea gardens of Darjeeling.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Another HAPPY SPRING first flush Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea. The aroma of the brewed tea is beautiful – a fruity scent mingling with notes of flower and hints of wood. It is a wonderful celebration of spring.
And it tastes so lovely! It is sweet with notes of fruit and flower, and it has a light, crisp body. The fruit notes are somewhere between sweet peach and apple, with the crispness of a green apple but the sweeter flavor of a red. It is very smooth and there is only a mild astringency that is slightly dry, sort of like the finish of a dry wine. The aftertaste is cool and clean.
The description on the Happy Earth Tea website suggests a hint of vanilla too, and after a few sips, I started to pick up on the soft vanilla undertones. It is sweet and silky … not so much ‘creamy’ as it is silky.
There are hints of vegetation to this cup too, as well as woodsy tones and earthy flavors. I would describe the complexity as a balance between masculine and feminine notes: Imagine crisp, light airy notes that deliver whispers of flower that rustle the leaves as you’re walking through a fruit orchard while the trees are blossoming.
A remarkable Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea. I love that this is Organic, it’s also Fair Trade Certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified! I love that these things are important to Happy Earth Tea.
Mango Pineapple Flavored Darjeeling Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
This week’s Tea of the Week is brought to you by Linda R. who emailed me and requested: “Frank, I’d love it if you could do something with mango and pineapple for the summer – maybe with a honeybush or a green rooibos, or even a green tea. Thanks!”
I did take the liberty of switching up the base a bit. I had this creative itch. I kept thinking, I wonder what those tropical flavors would taste like paired with a nice muscatel Darjeeling… So I decided I should find out. The answer, I believe, is: Delicious!
I started with a nice blend of first flush FTGFOP* Darjeelings, added some freeze-dried mango and pineapple and organic mango and pineapple flavors and… yummmmm! But you’ll just have to try it for yourself. Don’t miss out. This, like all of our weekly teas, is a limited edition blend.
*FTGFOP stands for Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, or “Far Too Good For Ordinary People” as the industry joke goes. It just indicates this is a longer leaf style.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I was pretty excited to try this Mango Pineapple flavored Darjeeling tea from 52Teas. In the many years that I’ve been a customer of 52Teas – I’m a subscriber! – I can only recall one other Darjeeling blend. I know that their black tea blend that they used as a base had some Darjeeling in it at one time, but as far as a solo Darjeeling base goes, the only tea I recall is the Dreamsicle Darjeeling. And I did enjoy that tea, so I was happy to try a new flavored Darjeeling.
The fragrance of the dry leaf is very appealing to the sweet tooth: it has a sweet, fruity and almost candy-like scent to it, reminding me of a tropical bubble gum or something. I didn’t smell a lot of “Darjeeling” to the dry leaf, though. The brewed liquid has a lighter aroma. The sweet fruit notes have softened quite a bit, and I can now smell notes of Darjeeling: hints of earth, flower and even whispers of grape. These notes meld quite beautifully with the sweet notes of pineapple and mango.
The first time I brewed a cup of this tea for myself, I was a little disappointed by the flavor. I suspect that this is because the temperature may have been too hot, which is why I tried again with a second cup.
The first cup ended up tasting very much like the aforementioned bubble gum. It even seemed to have a somewhat creamy, almost “gummy” texture to it that I didn’t really find all that enjoyable. I could taste the pineapple and the mango, though, as well as notes of the Darjeeling, but the base tasted a little bit bitter and the finish was a little to astringent for my liking, so I decided to try again and watch the temperature a little closer this time.
Much better! Keep the temperature below boiling! Of course, I usually do this with a Darjeeling anyway, but because I’m without my Breville One-Touch for the time being, I’m a little out of practice with gauging the water temperature by sight. I miss that variable temperature kettle feature on the One-Touch!
So this time, I didn’t walk away from the stove, and I didn’t let the water reach the boiling point. I steeped the tea for just 2 minutes, and this is much, much tastier than the first cup. The mango and the pineapple are quite compatible in the teacup, offering a tropical flavor that is sweet with a little bit of tangy. The fruit notes are bright and vibrant.
There is still a somewhat “creamy” note to this, but it isn’t gummy the way the first cup was. In that first cup, as I stated, the gumminess was a little weird and not in the most pleasant way. But now that it’s creamy and not gummy, I’m not put off by it.
The Darjeeling is much nicer this time around too: light, crisp, and refreshing. I taste notes of grape and earth in the background, and a woodsy tone that marry in a very captivating way with the fruit flavors … it keeps me sipping!
It’s a very unexpected tropical taste, but, I like it. It adds a touch of “exotic” to something that is already exotic. A unique and interesting cuppa!