Darjeeling Sungma Summer

I’m revisiting this today, because Adagio’s clever lil marketing game has me narrowing down an order. I’ve had 2 cups this morning. The first was plain, and it still feels like a green/black mix, and was noticing a slight vegetal (very slight) aftertaste this time (I took it easy on the honey for this tasting, lol). Like it a lot, but truthfully on it’s own, it wouldn’t be haunting me.

My real curiosity was about creating a spearmint Casablanca Twist (which is this tea with peppermint). I have Adagio’s spearmint and peppermint, so studying the Casablanca Twist, decided to go with a 1 part Darjeeling Sungma Summer with 2 parts Adagio Spearmint. Adding a T. of honey, brewed according to this tea’s parameters (rather than Casablanca’s of 180 for 2 min).

The verdict? Success! This is great. As a base, it adds substance to the mint (whether it be spearmint or peppermint). I can see playing with the ratios, even mixing the 2 mints and this remaining a player in the mix. Are there other teas that would play equally well with this scenario??? Oh I don’t doubt there are. But going to throw this to Adagio out of loyalty (guilt? lol).

Darn you Adagio (sticking out tongue). I’ve been trying to resist sales. Frank already got me, now you. And have tested 2 of Teavivre’s samples and have already fallen in love with one of those (Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tip) < will write that up after a few more tastings. Tick tock…

SIPDOWN yesterday.

Anyways…so sorry I haven’t been around much…Steepster has been giving me a HELL of a time in recent weeks and months but I will say yesterday and today the WORST so far. It seriously took me 20 minutes and 2 browser attempts to get from the log in page to the dashboard! Grrrrr. Anyhow…I hate to leave or not be around since I have been a Steepster FREAK since it’s conception.

I have noticed LOTS of the originals are no longer around and that bums me out but perhaps they were having the same issues and delays…not sure…

I guess all I can do is continue to TRY, eh!?

Cold-brewed this last night, 3 tsp/12 oz. for probably 24 hours. I forgot about it for a while. At first sip it’s like the standard unsweet iced tea, but once the aftertaste kicks in there’s a strong grapiness to it. I don’t remember getting muscatel in previous cups of this, so it’s a huge plus for me! It tastes fruitier the more I drink it, with some bright honey notes and a little bit of a sharp earthiness. Now I have to decide if I want to brew the rest of this hot or cold…

This is my first darjeeling from Adagio, and I have to say, I think Arbor Teas spoiled me. In comparison, this is a good tea. It gets the job done, and it’s very fresh-tasting and smooth, but the muscatel flavor is a little weaker than what I’m used to. It’s not as sharp and “green” tasting than what I tend to like with my darjeelings. There’s something in the aftertaste that’s supposed to remind me of white tea, and I’m not tasting it.

Still, this is not a bad tea by any means. I’ve just had better. I will certainly enjoy the rest of the sample, and I’ll be giving it a longer steep time as well.

Umm so this one is pretty similar tasting to the Tea Merchant’s Darjeeling I just logged. Right now I feel like just writing “yeah what she said”. But thinking on it actually I do feel this one starts off nicer, like the cooled off version of the second steep I liked. It has some cooler, smoother, sweeter notes from the get go and I like that. It may not have all the specific floral, muscatel, peppery and astringent notes Darjeeling connoisseurs may or may not be looking for but, I astringency is a personal turn off for me and this one suits me just fine. Will update if I observe more in subsequent steeps. Thank you Michelle!

This is my first true Darjeeling I’ve prepared for myself. I really love how Adagio’s samples are both large and very affordable. It gives you good opportunity to try a new tea in absolute peace, not having to worry that if you mess this one up there won’t be enough to try again.

I’m using 2.3g for 200ml boiling water, and steeps of 3 and 4 minutes.
1st steep: The dry leaves smell of yeast, freshly baked bread crusts and white grapes, maybe with a hint of vanilla. (I think I can smell that last one, but I have no idea if that’s supposed to be there or not. Are my nose and brain playing games with me?) The wet leaves have that same bread crust scent with some juiciness, but I am also surprised by a quick blast of sweet spices. I like that! In the cup (I wish I could have more than one way of saying that) it is a deep amber color and tastes very much as the scent of the wet leaves. The grape aspect has a sharpness to it, the way the acid plays with the sweetness when you bite through a grape, particularly if it has a thicker skin.
2nd steep: The color is a medium amber this time, and seems to tell the tale for this cup being weaker than the first. The astringency is the same, but the flavors are less this time to the point that the grape notes are hardly noticeable. I originally planned to steep this time for 5 minutes, but at the last decided to try just 4 minutes, only to find that I probably should have stuck to my first thought.

A friend of mine picked some of this up after we went to our first tea tasting at an Adagio store. She raved about it, so I asked her if I could try some. I swapped with some of my Fili blend (I think).
I finally got around to trying this and I don’t like it at all. Ugh. It’s got a leathery, musky taste to it with an undertone of bitterness. Or maybe it’s this yeasty taste everyone else is talking about. Whatever it is I really don’t care for it. I’m very glad I tried it before buying any of it.
Swap pile for this one, or I might just keep it around for when my friend visits. Lol.

Sipdown #1 for 2014 aww yisss!
(89)

Going do drown in tea tonight because I got an 86 on my chicken butchery practicum. I totally thought I would have gotten at least a 92, but my professor thought otherwise.
Ahh well. This is my first legit sipdown and… kinda sorta not really excited since there’s just a whole lot of dust and broken up pieces left in the pack, BUT AT LEAST I’M LESSENING MY TEA STASH.
This tea is good. Just your average black tea so nothing too special.

((please excuse my terminology. I just discovered what sipdown actually meant and how people were numbering them and I was all OH COOL. Yeah, I’ve had steepster for a while, but I definitely didn’t really start using it till this year))

I haven’t written a tasting note for this because my first impression was not good and yet darjeeling is one of my father’s favorites…

So I tried it again today and my impression is better than my first try so here we go. The nose is typical black tea with some additional forest moss smell, kind of musty but in a clean fresh way. In addition it has a faint nutty maybe smokey smell that lets me know this is going to be different than my typical morning black (Ceylon Sonata).

So… Ever had that moment where you buy a tea at random thinking “ahh, how bad could it possibly be” only to get it to your house, open and smell it and kinda flinch….

i’m sure most of you haven’t but to be fair i’m sure a good few of you had. And its exactly what happened when i opened this bag for the first time today…. scared the hell out of me too. I am used to either the flavored teas from teavana or the Yunnan Earthy, peppery, teaesque aroma. this was something different all together and it put me off for a couple of minutes. giving it the benefit of the doubt, i brewed it and took a couple sips…

Then everything was right in the world.

I feel like this is one of my favorites and it very different but that ok with me because i need change on occasion.

I feel like the description covers this tea very well because, i get the grape and the spice. I get the sugar and tang. I really like this one. this is the first Darjeeling that i have ever had and i am not disappointed in the slightest.