Time for another serving of the Darjeeling that’s not a Darjeeling, as I’m beginning to think of this one. It’s got a very similar caramel/muscatel scent and flavor to it, and today I tried to puzzle out how the two varieties differ. From what I’ve tasted so far, I think the Bai Lin Gong Fu has more of an earthy and starchy sweet potato-like sweetness to it, similar to what I’ve found in The Simple Leaf’s Dawn or Samovar’s Hawaii-Grown Black. I also think that the Darjeelings I’ve had have been a little more astringent than this tea, which is very smooth, even at fairly long first steepings (four to five minutes). One of these days I’ll have to do a side-by-side tasting and see what I find out.
Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C
4 min, 30 sec
