177/365
Apparently, I hated this one last time I tried it. This time, not so much. That doesn’t mean I love it – I don’t think I could ever love this one, because the quality just isn’t there. It’s not unredeemingly awful, though. I don’t know why that is – perhaps Twinings have tweaked it some since I last tried it, or perhaps I just messed it up last time. Maybe I’m in a more receptive or expansive frame of mind. Who knows? Certainly not me.
I used similar parameters to those I employed for my last cup – 1 bag, 2 minutes, boiling water. It’s lightly grapey upfront, with a touch of orchid floral, and a light briskness. It’s not bitter, or astringent. In fact, for a bagged darjeeling, it’s pretty good. Considering the leaf is shredded almost to dust, it’s actually surprising.
I came by this one in a sample box I got for Christmas, and it isn’t one I’d choose to keep around. I like darjeeling, but there are much, much better ones out there. If it came to a choice between these bags and not drinking darjeeling at all, I’d forego darjeeling. That being said, there are definitely worse bagged blacks out there. I might not actively like this one, but I think we’ve improved from outright hate to relative indifference today. That’s progress.