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!
Assam 2nd Flush 2014 Green Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A brilliant green tea with a wonderful mango aroma, fruity taste and citrus finish. Perfect as an ‘everyday’ green tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf of this tea has the most amazing aroma! So fruity, I almost thought it was a blended/flavored tea! It really does have a mango-y scent and it is a very strong fragrance. Once brewed, the scent does soften but there are still distinct fruit notes.
To brew this tea, I went with a slightly lower temperature – 175°F instead of 180°F – because when I see “Assam” my mind automatically thinks to adjust the temperature slightly. Assam is a little more temperamental than other teas, it seems, and I find that I experience less bitterness from Assam when I use a slightly lower temperature. I steeped it for 2 minutes. The liquid produced is quite pale, looking almost like a white tea rather than a green.
But there is still plenty of flavor!
The sip starts out quite light. Delicate. But by mid-sip, the palate starts picking up on some strong flavors. I taste the fruity notes that are promised in the above description and I’m also experiencing the citrus finish. This citrus finish lingers long in the aftertaste. A minute later and I’m still tasting bright citrus flavors.
I like how the flavors build with this tea. It starts out very soft. Again, I must compare it to a white tea. It’s delicate like that at first. But just before mid-sip, the flavors are developing. I first pick up on a slight vegetal note and soon these vegetative flavors are washed over by the sweet fruity notes. The finish is tangy with citrus. It’s a very light and rewarding taste. Soothing. Calming.
The leaves looked to me like they wanted to treat me to another cup of tea, so I resteeped them. The second infusion was not as delicate as the first. Much more flavor right up front. Notes of vegetation peek through right at the start and then the fruit notes come on strong. The citrus notes at the finish are not quite as sharp, they are softer but the tangy flavor is still present.
It would be difficult for me to decide which infusion I preferred. I liked the delicate approach of the first cup, but the second cup was so flavorful. Both were wonderful so I highly recommend infusing these leaves at least twice!
I haven’t tried as many green Assam teas as I would like to so trying this Assam Second Flush from What-Cha is a real treat for me! And it’s not just a treat because it’s something a little out of the norm for me, but it’s also a treat because it’s yet another amazing tea from this company. I’m really impressed by them!
Shan Black Tea (2014) from Shan Valley
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Shan Valley
Tea Description:
This is a first flush black tea, and is processed as is local tradition in Myanmar, the tea leaves are a little more uneven and have a balanced flavor. This tea is similar to the Kyaukme Black Tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Similar to the Kyaukme Black Tea from Shan Valley that I reviewed previously (as well as their 2013 Shan Black Tea), this black tea leaf has a very fine grind to the leaf that resembles a finely ground coffee bean. But as I said with the Kyaukme Black Tea, I will say with this tea, don’ t let the fine chop on these leaves dissuade you from trying it. It really is a splendid tea!
I recall the Kyaukme Black tea having an aroma to the dry leaf that reminded me very much of coffee. I don’t experience that scent with this tea. This smells a little more earthy. There are notes of leather and fruit and even the slightest floral note to this. This smells much more like black tea than coffee.
To brew this CTC tea, I used my Breville One Touch and measured 1 1/2 bamboo scoops into the basket of the tea maker. Then I poured 500ml of freshly filtered water into the kettle and set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and the temperature for 212°F and let the tea maker get to work!
I would recommend that you experiment with this tea (or any other tea that has a fine CTC cut to it) to find what time works best for your palate. 2 1/2 minutes is cutting it pretty close for me, but I really wanted some edge to the cup when I brewed this tea. I am addicted to caffeine, you see, and I was experiencing a withdrawal headache.
Anyway, if you find that a CTC tea is too bitter for your liking when you’ve brewed it, try reducing the brew time by 30 seconds or 1 minute. You may find that you love that CTC! Sure, whole leaf is awesome … but just because the chop is fine on a tea doesn’t mean that it’s anything like that horrible dust and fannings that you’ll find in those tea bags from the grocery store.
The tea brews to a dark brown, almost black color. It brews so dark that it almost looks like a cup of black coffee. The aroma is rich and sweet with notes of molasses and hints of earth and leather. The fragrance here is much softer than that of the dry leaf, and I’m experiencing none of the aforementioned fruit or floral notes in the aroma.
But that’s OK because really, when it comes right down to it, it’s the flavor that counts and the flavor here is so rewarding. It’s a rich, robust cup of tea that has the vigor to get you going. This would make a really good breakfast tea and would take the additions of milk and honey quite well if you like to add those to your breakfast cuppa.
This is a very flavorful cup. It isn’t bitter but I suspect that if I had brewed it for another 30 seconds it would be. It’s right at that edge that I was looking for to deliver me a cup full of gusto but not so much that I can’t enjoy it. I AM enjoying this! Immensely!
It has a deep flavor to it. As I mentioned before, the aroma of the dry leaf is earthy with notes of leather and I do taste subtle notes of both earth and leather here, but they are much more subtle than the aroma suggests. Malt! A malty note that would rival your favorite Assam! I taste a deep molasses-y sort of flavor, like caramel that has been made from molasses (if there is such a thing.) I can taste a “burnt sugar” sort of flavor.
Last year’s Black Tea from Shan Valley had a very prominent cacao sort of flavor and I’m not experiencing that quite as much with this tea. I’m also experiencing less of a roasted sort of flavor. I still taste these notes, but they are less obvious to me than the malt and burnt-sugar/molasses notes that I mentioned before. There is a fair amount of astringency, I would classify it as medium astringency. As I continue to sip, I start to notice a sort of bake-y type of flavor that is reminiscent of freshly baked bread and I’m picking up on notes that are somewhat fruit like, hinting at notes of black currant, grapes, and plums.
I find that this flush is a little bit different from last year’s tea, and that’s why you want to try each flush, to experience all the flavors that each flush offers! This one is much more rugged than last year’s Shan Black, but both are really wonderful teas and well worth experiencing!
Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Golden Tips Black Tea from What-Cha Tea
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!