Mighty Leaf Darjeeling

The only tea I've had from Mighty Leaf is their bagged Darjeeling.  I mentioned Mighty Leaf in my tea seller roundup a few posts back, and noted that they do tea bags quite well:  full leaf tea in large, clean sachets.  Although their selection tends towards the overly fruity and herbal side of things, they also have a fairly extensive selection of loose teas.  They do tend towards the pricier side of things, which is probably why I haven't checked them out all that much, but if I see the bags out and about, they're not a bad hot drink option.

So, I've had fairly mixed success with Darjeeling.  It's such a renowned type of tea that I want to like it, but it just doesn't do much for me.  I find it overly astringent, and I rarely find the muscatel fruit notes that are supposed to be so prevalent.  So, it's kind of a surprise to me that I actually rather like Mighty Leaf's Darjeeling.  The label and site insist it's an estate tea, but puzzlingly do not identify which estate.  This gets a raised eyebrow.  Different Darjeeling estates have fairly different characteristics, and fans of the style probably can easily tell various estates apart.  Given the status in the tea world of estate teas, wouldn't it offer some prestige to identify the origin?  I wonder...it seems odd that a company that puts care into tea production would treat a word that means so much as marketing.  Perhaps they source tea from different estates in different years, or perhaps they source tea from a less regarded estate?

At any rate, I'm not a big enough fan of Darjeeling to care all that much, and besides, I like this Darjeeling better than the loose stuff I've had from various estates.  Blasphemy, maybe, but I have to go with what my taste buds tell me.  Mighty Leaf's Darjeeling is light and smooth, with a mildly astringent finish, but not the kick in the mouth I've come to expect from the region.  The flavors aren't exactly strong, but it has nice mild fruit and floral notes.  It's a pretty pleasant if not exactly remarkable cup.  Really, I would expect this to be a blend of various estates (and not mind!), given that it has such a smooth body and subdued character.  Score:  80 (B-)  Not my favorite, but certainly a pleasant cup if I'm out and about and it's offered.  Mighty Leaf also does an English Breakfast in a bag I'd be curious to try.