No. 1 Tippy Orthodox GFOP Darjeeling (TD50)

2 heaping tsp. leaf to 500ml. in my Breville.

Last time I had this I steeped it at 3:30 and thought that the taste could be developed a bit more. So tonight I went with an extra 30 seconds, taking it up to 4 minutes, which is my usual steep time for black teas.

I think that this time the flavor of the tea came through even when hot – with the trade-off being that there was more astringency too.

Bottom line: I think it’s a more of an everyday black tea – the taste and smell are wonderful but there’s nothing overly complex about it.

I enjoyed a pot of this tea with my breakfast this morning. I’m still getting to know darjeelings. This is bold, a little floral IMO, but also kind of earthy & gutsy, if that makes sense to anybody, LOL.
This is a sample from the first package Sil sent to me, & it was a generous sample. I still have enough to drink it one more time. Thanks Sil! You Rock!

So i have to say that I’m really glad that this darjeeling is a decent cup of tea. I was a little worried that I was not going to love them, since the first few that i’ve tried, I haven’t liked. This one though, is a pretty tasty cup! It’s not my favourite black tea but this is still an enjoyable cup. I’d love a bit more robustness from this but the tea is smooth and tasty.

I love the format of Upton’s samplers, and grabbed the black tea one as I would like to get more familiar with my straight blacks.

This Darjeeling was really pleasant before breakfast today. It was nice and smooth but with a little bit of a bite. It’s flavourful but relatively light.

I had some of this in the morning and am working from memory, so I might come back and update this when I drink it again.
The leaves looked pretty good – not very broken, brownish-greenish.
Astringency was minimal and the tea is nice and round and mellow. The mouthfeel is moderate.

There’s definitely some of that typical floral flavor I expect from a Darjeeling. There are also more mellow malty notes. I presume the more mellow, robust notes are coming from the second flush leaves. There’s a hint of this brothy taste that I notice in some Chinese blacks and Japanese greens that I don’t care for. It really bothers my girlfriend, but it’s not the end of the world in my view. Overall, I prefer a first flush Darjeeling, but this is good too.

Good “traditional” tea, mildly tart, pretty good.

Smells spicy, sweet, and rich in the bag. Scents that remind me of earth, minerals, and gravevine while steeping. The scents of earthy minerals come through on my tasting notes as well…it kind of reminds me of dark oolongs in a way, except maybe a bit more mild? I’m not the biggest fan of other Darjeeling teas I’ve tried in the past for some reason, they often have this bizarre champagne like flavor to them, but this one is pretty good. Pretty easy drinking.

3 tsp of tea in brown ceramic teapot. Drank with cream. Brews very pale. Mild flavor, needed less cream than expected.

Nice tea, I think I may try to steep a little longer at maybe 90c next time as this was a bit more bitter and astringent than I liked.

I think I finally found the right preparation for this tea. Unfortunately, my sense of smell is severely compromised due to sinus issues at the moment, so I still can’t fully appreciate this tea. From what I can tell, the flavor is much better-developed than in my first tasting, but the astringency of the second tasting has been avoided.