Darjeeling Song

Thanks to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe for this sample tea!

This was a new experience for me. I’d never had a flavored Darjeeling before. Every other kind of tea, Oolong, Black, Green, Pu’er flavored and blended but for some reason never a Darjeeling.

Janet didn’t hold back from being creative, and decided to make a lovely Darjeeling Black Tea blend with cardamom, fenugreek and vanilla bean. All Organic.

What I tasted was very similar to a Chai but without any heavy spiciness. The cardamom was mild but the strength increased and warmed the tea as it cooled. The vanilla was smooth and rich, taming the natural tendency of Darjeeling to be astringent.

This tea was good straight with no additions, but with cream and honey it stepped up and was a very good cup of tea.

Finishing off the rest of this sample! Mmm this one will be missed. It’s smooth and I feel like this cup is a bit more creamy than the last. The spice isn’t in your face but kind of lingers in back of the vanilla.

I’m working (don’t like that word, sounds like a chore, but can’t come up with a better one tonight) my way though the teas the ifjuly sent me. I’ve found a few that I really liked, I’ve found a few that weren’t really to my taste, and I’ve still have a few to try. I want to express my appreciation at being able to try stuff outside my comfort zone. She very generously send me a ton of different ones to try, and I am appreciative of the experience.
I drank this one a few days ago and thought it was a really weird chai. Tonight, it’s a nice, warm, cardamom, with just a touch of vanilla. Not sure why I have have such different opinions. Maybe it’s really touchy steep parameters. Not sure about the other night, but tonight was 95C for 4 minutes. Tonight, I really like this – the other night not so much. LOL I can’t even decide how I feel about this.

This tea is very good to me, I haven’t had many Darjeeling teas but I really like this one, the aroma is like vanilla citrus and the taste is like a really nice black tea with citrus zest and vanilla notes and the aftertaste is interesting to me hard to describe, it’s a slightly astringent aftertaste that has almost a peppery bite. I could drink this one very often.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

I think it was Azzrian who sent me some of this! Thanks so much! At first I thought it was just a regular darjeeling but it’s FLAVORED! Woot! I really like the vanilla, here. The cardamom is nice, too, it’s NOT over done at all and adds that little bit to rustic spice to it. Very nice!

My dislike for this one is all me-based.

There is a certain threshold of cardamom (it’s not very high) in tea that literally triggers my gag reflex and makes me feel ill. It’s the reason I can’t drink much in the way of masala chai. This unfortunately passed that in spades.

Thanks anyway TastyBrew.

This tastes a lot like chai (unsurprising as it’s vanilla, cardamom, and Indian tea, albeit an unusual one for flavoring) without the hot spices. As such it feels more easygoing/versatile (I only ever really want chai as a singular form of dessert, almost like meal replacement on cold days, you know?), with the “spikey” flavor and texture peppery spices would’ve generated replaced by a relatively “clean”, smoothed out version of chai that manages to retain a creamy richness.

The astringent woodiness of darjeeling only really comes out at the end of the swallow; it’s not a strong or all-pervasive presence (which can be a positive or negative depending on how much you like darjeeling!). The front of the tea—the aroma steeping and freshly hot—is mostly vanilla (at first I was disappointed I couldn’t really taste the darjeeling), and then recedes to let the cardamom enter, and finally the darjeeling steps in. The lingering elements at the end of the cup are cardamom and darjeeling. The unfolding, three-act-play nature of it works because the segue between each is smooth and subtle.

This is a tea that grows on you; I was underwhelmed with the first few sips (seemed one dimensionally vanilla, kind of boring) but by the time I reached the bottom of the cup and had walked through all three flavor transformations I liked it. Also appreciate how even at the end, the aroma of real vanilla lingers, strong without being too much (tricky to balance, I find). A decent midday tea, I think. Will have to try it with some milk and/or sugar at some point.

Tea #38 from the Here’s Hoping TTB

One of my goals for next year is to learn a little bit more about darjeeling. I don’t drink it very often, but I’ve come across several I’ve really enjoyed. Moraiwe sent me several to try out and hopefully I’ll get a chance to post about them soon because I’ve really enjoyed them, I just haven’t managed to find the time to sit down and write about them yet.

There are several darjeeling teas in the TTB, but this is the only one that is flavored. In fact, it is the first time I’ve had a flavored darjeeling, but the combination of vanilla bean, fenugreek, cardamom, and darjeeling is very tasty. At first, while my cup was still very hot, all I could really taste was the vanilla, but as the tea cooled the spices came out and the darjeeling base peaked through here and there. This reminds me a bit of chai, but the flavors are much more mellow and smooth. I really liked the addition of the vanilla bean, it gave the tea a creaminess and cut down on some of the astringency I don’t normally care for in darjeeling. I also love the lack of cinnamon since I still get many of the flavors of chai without needing to take allergy medicine to enjoy my cup of tea (I’m really allergic to cinnamon.) I think I may have finally found my chai replacement.

This is a strong tea, strong smelling and strong brewing.

I have to admit at first sip I was afraid I would hate this tea. I tried a spoonful right after steeping it, no milk or sugar and it was horrible, absolutely horrible! I added milk and a little sugar and my second sip was a little better. I waited a few minutes before taking another sip and it was really, really good. As the tea sat and cooled a little the cardamon and vanilla must have been doing something together and made the tea a lot smoother and more pleasant to drink.

The second steeping was even better than the first, the cardamon was not weakened and I could feel the spice prickling on my tongue. I had some M&M cookies to dip in the tea and it was amazing.

The tea even stood up to a third steeping. It was starting to get weaker but I think I might have even managed a fourth steeping but it’s getting late and I don’t want the caffeine keeping me up all night.