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.

Tukdah Darjeeling TGFOP

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.

Vicarious Travel to Darjeeling

This New York Times article is a few years old now, and probably a bit out of date, but still an interesting read.  I really like the idea of a rough vacation to various estates throughout the Darjeeling area.  Darjeeling is certainly not my favorite type of tea, but the region sounds absolutely beautiful, and the descriptions of the estate managers made me smile.  I must say I'm disappointed by the idea of making the rickety bungalows at the various tea gardens more resort-like, but I guess not everyone likes to travel as rough as I do.

Link found via Tea Guy Speaks, a tea blog that seems to be largely about the contemporary side of tea.  Less reviews, more about how tea shows up in various places in modern life...also an interesting read.

Second Flush Mim Darjeeling

Mim Darjeeling is the fourth of five in Culinary Teas' Darjeeling sampler.  So far, I've tried the Soom, the Castleton, and the Margaret's Hope.  The experience has greatly expanded my knowledge and appreciation of this Northern Indian sub-variety of tea, but it's still not my favorite.  That being said, the Mim is the best of the lot so far, with a complex and beautifully balanced flavor profile.

Mim in from a tea estate in the North of India, located at 6800 feet above sea level.  Apparently, on a clear day, you can see Mt. Everest from the tea garden, which is just cool!  The tea is grown at a pretty high altitude, in relatively cool weather, which means a short growing season, and fairly high prices.  This also means a fairly renowned reputation, and should mean a highly developed flavor, particularly this tea, a second flush, which should have the strongest flavors of the harvest.

So, as with other Darjeeling estates, is this tea worthy of such a reputation?  I brewed a cup the other morning to try and answer this question.  I brewed the tea along similar lines to the other Darjeelings, water brought to a boil and allowed to sit for about a minute (roughly 205 - 210 degrees F), steeped for about three minutes in my Paris infuser.  The resulting liquor is a really nice reddish brown color, with a pleasant aroma.  But how does it taste?

Thumbing through some recent reviews, it's clear that one of the things that I really value lately in a tea is a clean texture and flavor profile.  Darjeeling doesn't disappoint in this regard; all of the estates I've tried deliver a high quality tea with no muddiness or chalkiness, and the Mim is probably the best of lot so far, with a faint natural smokiness.  That being said, I still struggle to find the muscat flavor that Darjeeling is famous for.  I've had wine made from the muscat grape, and it's all been sweet and fruity, with huge grape flavors, while the predominate texture here is in fact a crisp dryness.  Darjeelings seem to be bright and rather astringent, with little of the natural sweetness that I find in other teas.  Perhaps my palate just isn't that nuanced, but maybe I'm just not that big a fan of Darjeeling.  The Mim does have a wonderfully balanced flavor, and really is a quality cup of tea...on the whole, though, I think I'd rather a quality Chinese white.  Score:  82 (B-)

Margaret's Hope Darjeeling

With three down and two to go in my Culinary Tea's Darjeeling sampler, I'm a bit concerned I've already reached the point of diminishing returns.  Margaret's Hope is clearly a high quality, excellent tea, but I honestly struggled to find that much of a difference in flavors between this and the Castleton Darjeeling.  Don't get me wrong, this is a fine, super high quality tea, and I'm glad that I'm finally developing a better taste and appreciation for Darjeelings in general.  It's just that while the Soom was distinct and quite different, these last two have been a bit similar.  I have two more to try, the Mim and the Tukdai, so perhaps there will be more variation to be found in the last two samples.

So, then Margaret's Hope Darjeeling is a second flush, FTGFOP tea.  Second flushes typically have more developed flavors, and FTGFOP is fine tippy golden flowery orange pekoe, full leaves composed mostly of the higher quality tips.  Bearing in mind my difficulties with the Castleton, I brewed the Margaret's Hope like an Oolong, at water just under a boil for about three minutes, and met with success.  The tea brewed up a pale brown, with a delicate, clean nose.  The flavors were distinct, as with all the Darjeeling I've tried so far,  and the profile is nicely balanced.  Floral notes predominate, without much of the "Muscat" wine-like note that Darjeeling is most famous for, and also none of the natural crisp smokiness of the Soom.

Margaret's hope is really a high quality cup of tea, but not the most exciting cup I've had, even within the constraints of the Darjeeling area.  It's mellow and clean, with mild astringency and natural dryness.  On the whole, though, I think I'd reach for a quality green or white before this one.  Score:  83 (B-)

Castleton Darjeeling Second Flush FTGFOP -or - What's with all those letters?

So, what is with all those letters?  FTGFOP means Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, which is a lot of words to describe high grade tea.  Orthodox tea grading is based on a standard size of Orange Pekoe, which is a small leaf size, rather than a flavor or variant of tea.  In my limited experience, orthodox tea grading is a cumulative system, in that the more descriptors we add, the better the quality of the leaf.  (I may be over simplifying this a bit.)  There are other systems of grading tea, but the old fashioned Orange Pekoe based system is still in use for a lot of high quality teas.

So, FTGFOP Castleton is pretty high grade stuff, and additionally, it comes from a highly regarded estate.  So, it was a bit of a letdown when my first cup was a complete bust.  I brewed the tea at a full boil, like I did with the Soom Darjeeling, and the tea was completely scorched:  burnt, smoky, and flat.  I did some research, and found that brewing Darjeeling is even trickier than I originally thought:  tea from different estates is processed differently, and therefore needs to steep at different temperatures.  So, I gave the Castelton a second go, brewing at a much lower temperature, but it turned out to be too low, and the tea came out weak and bland.

Success came when I treated the Castleton as an Oolong, and brewed the tea with water at just under a boil.  Finally the Castleton was delicate and nuanced, with a nice interplay of flavors: a hint of dry smokiness, mild natural sweetness and a hint of fruit.  The texture is delicate and astringent, and the finish is excellent, leaving a slightly sweet and extremely clean mouthfeel.  This is a very nice tea, but I'm not sure it's quite the cream of the crop, so to speak, that it's reputation claims.  I like it, but I don't quite taste anything that sets it that far above what I've found of Darjeeling thus far.  Then again, perhaps my palate just isn't nuanced enough.  Score:  88 (B+)

Soom Gunpowder Darjeeling

I've only tried Darjeeling tea once before, and was severely underwhelmed.  It has a reputation as the "Champagne of teas," but my prior experience with Darjeeling was a bit less than exciting.  Gunpowder Darjeeling from the Soom tea estate is a completely different, and has really opened up a whole new world of teas for me to try.  This was the first tea of five that I tried from the Culinary Teas "Darjeeling Sampler," leaving me with four more Darjeeling estates to sample and write about.

Darjeeling tea comes from a very specific region of India, and is a highly sought after tea.  The relative scarcity as well as the high quality makes Darjeeling rather expensive, and apparently often counterfeited (look for the official Darjeeling Tea association logo).  Darjeeling tea is usually lightly colored and flavored with floral, fruit, and spice notes.  First flush is the first harvest of the season, and has lighter flavors and less astringency, then the second flush, which is typified by stronger muscatel flavors.  There are also Monsoon and Autumnal flushes, which have less strong flavors and are not as often exported, but often show up in blends and bags.  Darjeeling is sold as a black tea, but can technically be considered as an Oolong, since the leaves are only about 90% oxidized.  More confusingly, actual Oolong, green, and white Darjeeling are now becoming available as well.

The Gunpowder Soom Darjeeling is "BPS" grade, or Broken Pekoe Souchong.  Tea grading is confusing at best, and I must admit, I had to look this up, but it's simply an Indian tea grade classification for Broken Orange Pekoe, basically meaning "broken tea leaves."  Gunpowder, as with green tea, means that in the processing, the leaves are tightly rolled into balls (sometimes referred to as "pearls") that unfurl when brewed.  Soom, it turns out, is a well known tea estate in Darjeeling.  Their tea grows on mountain sides, about 5200 feel above sea level, sometimes on slopes approaching 45 degrees, and is actually moved from field to factory by mountain pony!  Some of Soom's tea bushes are estimated to be over 130 years old, yet still producing tea.  The quality is further highlighted by a modernized factory with brand new equipment, the happy result of an unfortunate fire in 1995.

Darjeeling can be more finicky to brew than bolder, sturdier teas.  The leaves are more fragile, and sometimes require a shorter steeping time, though this one in particular brews for about three or four minutes at a full, rolling boil.  Like greens and whites, milk and sweetener would destroy the fragile body and taste of this type of tea; thus, it's best drank by itself, letting the delicate tea speak on its own.

And it does speak!  My first sip of Soom Gunpowder Darjeeling is an unexpected pleasure.  The flavors are mellow, and not as bold as say an Assam, but I find several different delicate and balanced notes that go together very well.  The initial note is a mild natural smokiness.  This is not a smoke dried tea like Lapsang Souchong, but instead, has a naturally dry and smoky characteristic that I find very appealing.  The smoke is balanced with a slight toasted or nutty flavor that I have found in Oolongs, and further back on the tongue, restrained fruit and peppery spices.  All of these flavor notes mingle and complement each other very well.  You can almost feel different aspects of the taste hitting different flavor receptors on the tongue.

Darjeeling tends to have a lighter body, and can have a fair bit of astringency.  These show up in Soom Gunpowder Darjeeling as a light texture and a very refreshing and crisp mouthfeel.  The finish is short, but leaves my mouth feeling clean and reminiscent of the Gunpowder green I had a few months back.

My overall impression of Soom Gunpowder Darjeeling is excellent.  Based on a bad impression a few years back, I've been ignoring Darjeeling, but now I have a whole new world to high quality tea to explore.  Score:  95 (A)