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!
Kyaukme 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 the highest quality black tea that Shan Valley offers. It is from the Kyaukme Northern Shan state. The tea leaves are evenly grinded and have a strong flavor. It has a coffee-like look.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I opened the pouch of this Kyaukme Black Tea from Shan Valley (a 2014 Spring Flush!), the first thing I noticed was the grind to the black tea leaves. This CTC tea has a very fine chop, resembling some of the finest ground coffee I’ve ever seen. But don’t let that dissuade you! I find that with fine CTC teas like this, the flavor is more robust – like a good kick in the pants for the days when you need that sort of thing!
But one thing to be aware of when you have a finely chopped tea leaf like this one is that the brew time should be adjusted. There is more surface area that is exposed to the boiling water, and therefore it releases more of it’s flavor quicker than a whole tea leaf would. It also releases more tannins into the liquid, which means that if you steep this tea too long, you could wind up with a bitter tasting cuppa. So, cut the brew time here, I wouldn’t recommend a longer brew time than 2 1/2 minutes, especially to start out. After you’ve tried it, you can adjust the time to your own particular tastes.
The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me a little bit of coffee – like the earthy background notes of coffee. There are notes of earth, wood, and even hints of grass and flower to the dry leaf. The fragrance of the brewed tea is very similar to the dry leaf, except that it smells more unified. I smell fewer distinct ‘earthy’ or ‘grassy’ notes to the brewed liquid, and more of a melded scent that is composed of many less distinguished notes. It is a very satisfying aroma, though, like the kind of scent that you want to experience first thing in the morning: like a wake up call in the morning.
The flavor is strong! Like I said in a previous paragraph, the fine CTC chop means a good, strong brew, and this tea proves that statement. This is a BOLD tasting tea. This tea will give you that much needed kick to help shake the sleep that you’re still feeling when you first wake up.
It’s rich and satisfying with a very pleasing flavor. Robust and earthy, with notes of fruit (reminds me of something between plums and raisins), with a nice, molasses-y sweetness. It’s not bitter (although, as I said before, if I had oversteeped this, it would definitely be bitter … so watch your steep time with this one!)
The sip starts out with a sweet note that builds into an earthy note. There are wisps of smoke and tones of wood in the distance. I taste notes of grass to this too, but not in a green tea sort of way. It tastes more like what I’d imagine some fresh grass that had been roasted might taste. Still barely insinuating a vegetal note without actually admitting it outright. It has sweet undertones with dry fruit notes.
As I near mid-sip, these flavors I’ve mention develop. I taste very distant floral notes, most of which are hidden behind the more forward earthy notes. As the sip approaches the finish, a dryness is introduced, similar to what you might experience with a dry wine. The finish is dry and the aftertaste is clean. The astringency here is dry, clean and I feel a slight puckery sensation across my palate well into the aftertaste. It’s not unpleasant … it feels very clean and refreshing, actually.
A really rewarding cup of tea. It’s quite unlike any other black tea that I can remember, but at the same time, it has similar qualities to those familiar favorites. I’m enjoying this.
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.
Goomtee Autumnal Classic Autumn Flush 2013 Black Tea from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
This special lot from Goomtee comes from the super fine plucking of China classic plants which usually produce teas with sweet almondy qualities. The woody bouquet makes it a highly sought-after Autumn Flush Tea.
This is a very sweet and relaxing tea, with strong almondy and vanilla aromas. The taste is pleasantly sweet, with a stronger almond flavour coming through, followed eventually by the familiar earthy flavours.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh! The aroma that wafts from my teacup at the moment is absolutely delightful! This Goomtee Autumnal Classic from Darjeeling Tea Lovers smells amazing!
This tea really does have a strong almond and vanilla essence! It’s quite remarkable! It’s a pure, unflavored tea but with a truly remarkable flavor that evokes thoughts of something warm and baked, like a vanilla almond cake. YUM!
There is more to this cup, of course. Pleasant earthy notes with a woodsy tone provide a satisfying background of flavor while the creamy, sweet vanilla and nutty almond notes play in the foreground. It is sweet and enjoyable.
The sip starts out with a sweetness that is at first, difficult to distinguish. After a moment, my palate recognizes this flavor as sweet vanilla with almond. As the sip progresses, I start to notice the woodsy tones with a mellow earthy note. At the finish, the almond comes in strong, and it ends with a lovely creaminess. This tea has a light astringency to it that seems to cleanse the palate a little so that the creaminess doesn’t feel heavy or overwhelming to the palate. The aftertaste is sweet and lightly creamy.
A really enjoyable tea. I’m so happy to have more teas from Darjeeling Tea Lovers in my stash!