At last, I've reached the fifth of five in Culinary Teas' Darjeeling Sampler. It's been an interesting experience, going through five distinct Darjeeling estates. I began back in the Spring with pretty low expectations, the only previous Darjeeling I'd had being severely underwhelming, and initially, I was pretty enthusiastic. My first estate, the Soom, was not what I expected and pretty interesting, but as I worked my way through the teas, I found two things: one, the Darjeelings may have minor differences, but they all tend to have similar features, and two, I don't care for those features that much. I mean, Darjeelings tend to be pretty high quality teas, but the principal note from each is "Holy astringency, batman!" And while I don't mind some brightness in my cup, I prefer not to finish a tea with my mouth puckered dry. So, I enjoyed trying all these teas, and I think I learned a good bit, but in the end, I'm just not much of a Darjeeling fan.
So, Tukdah is the last of five Darjeeling estate teas I tried. The estate is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, and sounds truly beautiful. I think I would very much love to visit the state of Darjeeling in northern India, as it sounds fascinating. Tukdah is a large estate, located in the Teesta valley, which receives high rainfall and cooler temperatures, which produce a lighter tea than other Darjeeling estates or nearby tea regions. The neighboring Assam region, for instance, is at a much lower altitude, and produces a much heavier, thicker cup of tea. Up in the Teesta valley, once the monsoons have run through in the early spring, it's time to harvest the first flush, which have more delicate flavors and aromas than later harvests.
The TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, fairly large leaves with lots of tips) Tukdah from Culinary Teas is a first flush, and it does have lighter and more delicate notes than some of the other Darjeelings. As with the others, making this tea requires a bit of care, though no more than making a cup of white or green tea. I've had the most success with Darjeelings by treating them as Oolongs (which they can technically be considered, since the tea is not 100% oxidized), and steeping them in water at about 205 to 210 degrees C. The easiest way to achieve this is to bring the kettle to a rolling boil, take it off the heat, and let it sit for about a minute, then pour. I'm also careful about steeping times; the label says three to five minutes, but I tend to stay to the lower side of that spectrum and brew for about two or three minutes.
The color is pretty nice, as with the other Darjeelings. I tend to make these in a small, plain white teacup, and the liquor is a really nice deep amber or reddish gold color. The nose suggests faint nuttiness and a hint of smoke, and the first sip is pleasantly round and clean. This is a lighter Darjeeling with a slightly fuller mouthfeel. I get faint hints of smoke as with most of the other Darjeelings, and a really bright, astringent finish. For the fifth estate, I still fail to really find the muscat notes that Darjeelings are so well known for. I don't know if it's a colorful use of the descriptor (like calling a single malt "chewy"), or if my palate is just not developed enough to appreciate the notes, but in any case, I don't find any sweet, fruity wine flavors. Mostly, this tea is a one-two flavor profile: light and round on the tongue, then the sucker punch of astringency, leaving my mouth puckered and dry. Score: 80 (B-)
So, the last of the Darjeelings. The folks at CT have an Assam sampler that I've been eying for a while that should prove interesting, and they have several different Keemuns to try. The folks over at Harney and Sons have some interesting black teas as well. I feel as if greens and whites tend to get short shrift here, but it's getting cold, so I would expect a lot of black tea for the next few months.
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