Country of Origin: India
Leaf Appearance: varied shades of green and brown with silver tips
Ingredients: black tea
Steep time: 3 minutes
Water Temperature: 195 degrees
Preparation Method: Teavana Perfect Tea Maker
Liquor: bright gold
First flush Darjeeling teas are always an interesting dichotomy. They often don’t look like or taste like a black tea at all. As soon as I opened the sample packet I was immediately struck by how pretty the leaves were. They were incredibly fluffy with a ton of fuzzy buds. Some teas I casually photograph as I go but my first thought was, “I’ve got to Instagram this!”. The taste was mellow with sweet floral notes and very little astringency. Rose was the dominant character but there was also a fruity undertone that was distinctly Darjeeling. I continued to marvel at the leaves after brewing. It’s rare to see oxidation and bug bite marks that were so clearly visible. Once again, I had to share them with my Instagram followers. I still had a bit of tea left so I decided to give cold brewing it a try. Holy cow, just when I thought this tea couldn’t get any better! The rose notes came even more to the forefront. I use a 1L glass pitcher and I was able to refill at least three times with the same batch of leaves. This is not the cheapest 1st flush that you’ll meet it but it was truly one of the best that I’ve had in a long time.
To learn more about Darjeeling, check out my Meet the Tea post!
Rohini AV2 Exotic Black sample provided by Udyan Tea.