Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
A lovely and warming golden-red brew, Golden Nepal tea is harvested in several flushes high in the moist and chilly climate of the Antu Valley, located near the Darjeeling plantations. This brew is very sweet and scented with several flowery flavors, including hints of honeysuckle and jasmine. Connoissuers insist that you should drink it straight, without adding milk, cream or lemon but then feel free to experiment with this exceptional loose leaf black tea for your own tastes!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea has a lovely complexity. It’s one of those teas with which I’d love to spend an afternoon lingering over, quietly contemplating its lovely layers of flavor.
When I opened the container of this tea, and before I had even read the above description, I could notice some similarities to a Darjeeling tea. The colors within the dry leaf looked very Darjeeling-esque to me. The aroma was earthy, but with some interesting floral notes as well as hints of fruit.
The taste is very similar to a Darjeeling too. It has that light, crisp flavor to it that one would expect from a Darjeeling, and it even has notes of muscatel within its many diverse layers. There is an astringency to this tea that also reminds me of a Darjeeling: a clean astringency that lightly dries the palate.
The above description suggests tones of honeysuckle and jasmine, and I taste those. It was really quite a surprise when I first tasted it … again taking my first few sips without having read the description, and it was after those initial sips that prompted me to read more about it. I could swear that I was tasting jasmine, and I had thought I had brewed a Nepalese Black, not, a jasmine tea.
As I continue to sip, the sharper tones of the jasmine seem to subside, melding into the other floral notes to create a sublime medley of flower that enchant the palate. Overall, I find this cup to be floral, earthy, and a little fruit-like, very much like a Darjeeling, but different enough to stand on its own.
A lovely tea. I highly recommend this to any tea lover out there!
Jun Chiyabari FTGFOP1 Autumnal Black Tea from Rare Tea Republic
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rare Tea Republic
Tea Description:
This outstanding selection is rich and flavorful and offers excellent value. Sweet and creamy notes of caramel and Turkish apricot dominate a sweet and smooth liquor. This is a superb example of the quality achievable by skillful cultivation and manufacture and a fantastic every morning tea.
Jun Chiyabari FTGFOP1 Autumnal was an award winning tea at the North American Tea Championship.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is an outstanding tea! But then, I’ve come to expect nothing less from Rare Tea Republic. Every tea that I’ve tried from them thus far has been nothing less than stellar.
I never tried a Turkish apricot, but, this tea does have a certain fruity note to it that is similar to an apricot or a peach. It is sweet and luscious! The above description also suggests notes of caramel, and I’m tasting that too. However, the caramel tones here are different than ones I might experience in another black or even a pu-erh tea. This tea has a lighter body, and the caramel tones are not a heavy, “thick” kind of caramel taste, but instead, it tastes like hints of caramelized fruit: a sweet, light, vibrant taste that delights the palate!
This tea has many similarities to what I’ve come to know as Darjeeling-esque qualities, but, it doesn’t have that muscatel note. This does have the light crispness of a Darjeeling, however, and a similar dry note toward the end of the sip. The aftertaste is sweet and slightly fruit-like.
Overall, I found this to be a remarkably refreshing and delicious tea, one that I think should be on the MUST TRY list of every tea aficionado!
Jun Chiyabari Himalayan Evergreen from Rare Tea Republic
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Rare Tea Republic
Product Description:
Beautifully crafted leaves and well-balanced flavor speak to Jun Chiyabari’s mastery of the art of tea making. This splendid selection, grown ecologically in Nepal’s Dhankuta district, is a tea with a rich, buttery aroma, a smooth mouth-feel and a sweet, clean flavor reminiscent of asparagus and lemon. Plucking date: May 15, 2011.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a fantastic green tea.
The above description is pretty spot-on. I can taste the notes of asparagus and lemon, in fact, that is exactly what I tasted when I first took a sip, before even reading the description. It reminded me of asparagus that had been steamed with thin slices of lemon on top; the lemon slowly infusing into the asparagus as it becomes tender from the heat. I can even taste a hint of butter in there. YUM! 
The mouthfeel is light and silky soft, and there is just a hint of astringency at the tail that cleans the palate, and imparts a tangy note that further emphasizes the aforementioned lemon-y notes.
Overall, this tea tastes incredibly fresh and light. It’s an invigorating kind of tea, one that is an absolute pleasure to sip. Very rich in flavor and texture, but at the same time, it has such a crisp, uplifting kind of feeling to it.
This is an absolutely wonderful green tea – highly recommended!
Nepal from Damn Fine Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: This tea is no longer available, Sorry!
Company Description:
Grown high in the mountains of Nepal this tea wears faded dungarees and three days of stubble. It loves to talk about the world at elevation while knocking back pints of pale ale. It has no degree — it doesn’t need one. There is nothing it needs to know that can’t be learned from Whitman and Kipling. While the fire dies, after the others have gone home, it tells of its youth: “After the rains ended the air was intoxicating. The views, always dizzying, became more so. I would sit on a favorite rock for hours in the mornings, watching as the mists below receded and gave way to the startling colors of spring. Now, as I search for words to describe the sensation of those days, only one thing compares: falling in love.”
Taster’s Review:
I have tried several teas offered by Andrews & Dunham, and each time, I am impressed by their dedication to quality. Nepal is no exception – this is absolutely one Damn Fine Tea!
Nepal has a remarkable “golden” quality to it. It has a somewhat rustic taste to it, but, there is a certain refinement to it as well. A smooth, sweet, glistening taste that washes pleasingly over the palate – very enchanting! There is a malty flavor to it that gives richness to the taste. I can also detect a slightly fruity note in the background – kind of peach-like – which adds to the golden quality I mentioned earlier.
This tea needs absolutely no sweetener to be enjoyed as it does possess an agreeable natural sweetness. However, if you’re one that prefers a sweeter tasting tea, this one does take a drizzle of honey quite well.
Andrews & Dunham’s Damn Fine Teas are offered as limited edition teas, and unfortunately, this is tea (part of their first series), is sold out and no longer available. I do recommend that you keep an eye on their website and watch for new issues and order promptly to avoid missing out on future releases! Their teas should not be missed.