8 Tasting Notes
Like what is said: Darjeeling and Assam aren’t usually combined. I personally am not fully convinced by this blend.
The dry tea smell great, whilst the tea liquid doesn’t smell much. It’s defitely not bad tea, just I couldn’t see the point of it. The light fragrant of Darjeeling is not pronounced, and the richness of Assam is not enough there. There is a astrigency in mouth which is not much balanced by the ‘remain flavour’. In the end you kind of have to put in a little bit milk, but it’s also a bit too light for adding milk…
I don’t know, or there’s a way to brew it nicely?
Again, I really like the smell of dry tea though.
Preparation
It’s an expensive tea. London Harrods also sell Dikom estate Assam in their golden tin series, but maybe this one is higher level. I got 50g, steeped a little amount in half cup of hot water (can’t get hot enough water in my office so might try another temp next time).
It has the dark amber colour of Assam tea, also the malty, or say a bit mature, woody or earthy smell of Assam. Other than that, it almost tastes like a very good Darjeeling 2nd flush: sweet and smooth, almost no astrigency, and a nice ‘remain taste’ in mouth and throat. The remain taste is obviously Assam though.
I didn’t drink it with sugar and milk, and I wouldn’t want to put them in this tea. It’s tasty enough to drink it alone, and I don’t think milk will do much good for this quite luxury tea.
Preparation
Compare to F&M’s Darjeeling Green, the Green Ceylon has much taste as a tea. Surely the processing methods are different, I guess the Green Ceylon got a bit ‘fire’ to remove the raw greeny smell and release more flavour. It tastes interesting as a green tea: golden color liquid with a hint of green, smells refreshing and tastes balanced. The sweetness back the throat is quite pronounced. The second brew is also very nice. More elegant than some strong Chinese green tea, but not as weak as Darjeeling green. One of my favorite green tea.
Preparation
The question is: why you would want to try a Darjeeling Green??
This tea has a very ‘green’ leaf smell, well, it actually looks very green. That fresh but over-raw smell gone after putting in hot water… but no much other scent coming out. The tea taste alright, slightly bitter and quite a bit of astrigency. A tiny bit of sweetness. In general, very very light, and if you over brew it (over time of over amount of leaves), the astrigency becomes too pronuonced. I have tried a much more expensive Darjeeling Green, which is better but not that better. I guess it’s just how Darjeeling Green is like.
Preparation
For all the F&M tea I have tried, this one is probably the only one smell most constant for dry leaf and tea liquid—- in a good way.
It’s a fragrant tea, not the floral or fruity smell, but a pleasantly mature, not over smokey scent. Although the liquid is quite dark in color, it’s surprisingly not over astrigent and actually quite tasty.
Preparation
It is not said that which estate or which flush this tea from. I guess it’s a blend so the flavour might vary every year. The one I got is an old one that expires in autumn of 2013 (which I got it half-price).
I think lower temp works for me for fine darjeeling tea. When using slightly lower temp, I found this tea has an elegant smell and soft sweetness, astringency basically not exist. A light sweetness stays at throat but not too strong. More ‘easy-drinking’ than certain more expensive estate darjeeling. The best temp to drink is when it’s warm.
Very happy about this tea.
Preparation
It is the first second flush Darjeeling I have (well, I don’t know which flush the Fortnum and Mason FTGFOP is so that one doesn’t count). The dry tea is dark coloured, has a ‘very ripen fruit dried’ smell. For the first time I steeped with boiling water, it was kind of nice but a bit too much astrigency for me. It’s probably against the rule but the second time I had it with lower temp water, the smell of liquid is mild but delightful, the taste is smooth with a constant sweetness back of the throat. Very mild astrigency if there’s any. The steeped leaves smell very floral and sweet. I think next time I might increase temp a little bit to extract the full flavour.
