Glenburn Estate Darjeeling

Not a favorite
but worth trying none the less
now it’s gone, sipdown.

Full Review on SororiTea Sisters on the 21st but here are the snippits:

Glenburn Estate Darjeeling from Butiki Teas is a prime example of a quality first flush Darjeeling. If you are like me and generally prefer second flush you should still give this one a try, because it is worth it to have one of the best first flush Darjeeling’s as a tea lover and connoisseur.

The flavor notes are so laid back, mellow, but absolutely present. I love the light juicy sweet peach notes, the light lilting floral flavor, and that ever so subtle touch of ginger, which I pick up more in the aroma than the flavor but again, the flavor is there. I even get a honey aroma and note on the palate.

This has made it to my shopping list.

sample of this one from stacy! I think i might prefer this one to the moonlight glenburn but i’m not entirely sure. Sadly i forgot to a) brew this side by side to compare and b) drink this while it was hot. Thus sort of ruining the sample. As a hot brewed, cooled tea this is refreshing with a hint of astringency and some faintly floral notes. Other than that, I can’t say much since work ended up really distracting me tonight. Soooo i’m going to call it quits and not ruin any other samples that i have.

Final count for the day of organising and getting my orders/samples from people – 287 though that includes a number of single cup sample sizes i should hopefully be able to finish off quickly this week :) YAY for not being over 100 and getting organised. Also mini grats for not really placing any orders in May…apart from the sloane mega uber never happens 50% off sale i had to take advantage of.

I wish I liked Darjeeling teas more. They smell like fantastic, sour-sweet fruit and hay. There’s been a couple that I’ve enjoyed consistently, and a few instances, influenced by steep variability, where a particular sample wasn’t as abrasive as it was previously.

That latter is actually what happened with this Darjeeling. I haven’t enjoyed this one all too much, and was in no rush to make the last cup. Maybe the temperature was lower (around 180F) than it usually is, but it’s so mellow today, like a second steep! It tastes floral, with a bit of sweet fruit and sour citrus. The cup led to the trademark mouth puckering too.

This is so good! I was thinking of getting a variable temperature kettle for school, but sometimes it’s nice to do the guesswork and get lucky! It just shows me that some teas (puerh, chai) have very specific “settings” that need to be met before the “best” of them (for me) is brought out.

Sipdown! Thanks to Stacy for a sample of this one, so I can expand my very limited darjeeling knowledge.

This tea smells lovely and sweet. A bit grapey, as I’ve gathered is characteristic. The sweetness also reminds me of that caused by leafhoppers, e.g. in Gui Fei Oolong, etc. Flavourwise, I’d be hard-pressed to identify this as a black tea. It’s much more like… a non-oxidized Gui Fei, or something like that? It’s sweet, just the teensiest touch astringent, and kind of has a hay-y sort of flavour. Quite pleasant, but I’m not sure that it quite falls into the realm of tea I would want to drink often. It’s not bad, and certainly interesting to have tried, but there’s something about that leafhopper flavour that, instead of growing on me, is doing the opposite: I’m starting to find it unpleasant. Which is unfortunate as I have no shortage of such teas. Oh well! I definitely preferred the Glenburn Darjeeling Moonlight; I’ll have to dig out the last of my sample from Boxermama and finish it off to remind me how it tasted.

Will have to do a full review later on this wonderful 1st flush Darjeeling. I just finished my sample that Stacy sent. It is a chilly, rainy day in Atlanta and I am enjoying a delicious bowl of homemade soup which includes carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, garlic, kale, fresh parmesan and chicken. My husband found the recipe on the internet. I love homemade soup and tea on a rainy autumn day! I just wish I could spend the rest of the day checking out my new teas from Butiki instead of going to work. But if I don’t work, I won’t have any money for tea!

Smells fruity and floral when dry. After steeping, the leaves are predominantly green. Vegetal taste, very light and astringent. I’m happy to have tried this, but it confirms further to me that first flushes just aren’t my thing.

Not rating since I can’t compare this to other first flushes and have no way to say if this is a good one or not.

UPDATE: Continuing my way through this cup, I think I’ve narrowed down why first flushes aren’t for me. They are very reminiscent of green tea and green tea truly isn’t my thing.

My first first flush Darjeeling! Thank you to Stacy for the sample.

This seems so much like a green tea to me. I thought it was!

I won’t give this one a score, because I really have nothing to compare it to. It is not really my kind of tea with its floral, slightly bitter flavor. But, I’m glad I tried it!

Backlog from Sunday.

While I’m tasting plain black teas, I thought I’d finish with this one. I like Darjeeling well enough, on the whole. Not as much as I like assam, but it’s definitely up there. I generally prefer first flush, but I’ve had a couple that aren’t, and they’ve been okay too. I gave this about three minutes in boiling water, and the liquor is a medium yellow-gold. The scent is quite perfumey, and a touch grassy.

To taste, this is beautifully smooth and delicate. There’s a very slight almost metallic tang, then a distinctive floral fruitiness, ending with a gentle muscatel note. No grassy notes, really, but that’s okay.

This is a tea that’s really easy to drink, and very moreish. Perfect for a warm summer evening, which is more or less what the day has turned into, despite it feeling decidedly autumnal earlier in the week. Another great tea from Butiki!

Darjeelings are growing on me, but I think I prefer the Giddipahar from Butiki to this one.

This is tasty, though. Don’t have much more to say than it’s a very darjeelingy. :)