Imperial Muscatel Darjeeling Second Flush Black Tea

I received this as a gift from our local Buy Nothing page. The original purchaser didn’t care for it and offered it up. I’d not heard of Vahdam before and she gave me 3 different teas to try.
I’ve been mixing it with other teas this summer to make pitchers of iced tea. This morning I had a cup and found it too bitter after steeping for 3.5 minutes with 200* water. I often hesitate to add to my tea but added a splash of skim milk and a tsp of sugar and enjoyed it on my patio. I think I’ll continue to use it for my iced teas and mixing with others but it’s not a “stand alone” tea for me.

Taste was woody and a dry with bitter finish.

Just received this from Vahdam over the weekend and was excited to try it. Brewed western style for just over four minutes.

The flavor was okay — nothing special. There’s a slight muscatel flavor to it — nothing further. I expected more, based on the price they are asking for it.

I haven’t been impressed with teas from Vahdam lately and this is an example of why. They started off delivering wonderful teas about 4-5 years ago, but recent shipments just haven’t had the same quality, IMO.

I’ll finish this off but won’t order it again. I’ll try blending this with another Darjeeling to see if I can enhance the flavor a bit.

Date of Picking: July, 2020

This is a black tea that I don’t think I’ve had before today.

The tea is delicious with a fruity and floral taste, I found it quite enjoyable. I steeped the leaves twice, the second cup tasted a bit better than the first.