Limited Hand Rolled Giddapahar

Oh hey, another unrated Butiki…

Anyhow, this was yummy. I have no clue what it is. Darjeeling? It was light and flavourful. No astringency. Need to pay more attention next time.

In other news, the baby has been asleep for four hours straight. This hasn’t happened in a month. Not expecting this (he usually wakes up three times in that span), I have been awake this whole time. Unsure if I should be sad or pleased. Also unsure if I should go to bed now, only to be awoken rudely in 15 minutes… or wait, and have him sleep the night through or something. Ugh, unpredictable babies!

This is so good. There’s that signature Darjeeling herby/grassy thing going on, there’s apricot and citrus, plus a lot more that I’m struggling to pinpoint. It’s very smooth for a Darj, with virtually no astringency. I so wish I could restock this one, along with some of Butiki’s other fabulous teas. I know there are plenty of other places sourcing fine Darjeelings, but I so miss having Butiki as my one-stop shop!

Lewis & Clark Traveling Teabox – Tea #3
This is a Darjeeling I can love! The nice Darjeelings put the mediocre ones to shame. I used two teaspoons though I was supposed to use three. The flavor seemed fine anyway! The color of the cup was a lovely squash orange just like the flavor. I love the depth a nice Darj has. Muscatel, something fruity and a little dusky. No, I don’t know what that means. The second steep loses some of those subtle nuances that make it special, but stilla good cup. I’d always recommend steeping Darjeelings 15-20 min after boiling though, anything more will destroy the nice qualities. Darj is always tough for me to describe, I can never do a good one justice but this is delicious!
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 20 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min

Lewis & Clarke TTB

First off, I have little to no experience with Darjeelings. I know they’re Indian and the word most used to describe them is “muscatel”, but I think I’ve only tried one ever? Hah. So I was happy to see this in the box! The leaves actually remind me of bai mudan in that they’re varying sizes and colors with some silvery buds. Dry scent is musty hay, which also makes me think of white tea, hah! The directions called for a tablespoon of leaf, but I didn’t want to use that much since there’s not a ton in the package, so I just used less water for my cup and used 2 teaspoons.

Hmm… The brewed aroma definitely reminds me of a lighter black tea. There are pastry or light bread notes along with fruitiness and honey. Oooh, this is interesting! It definitely has elements of white tea – it’s very creamy and grainy. But then it also has dark dried fruit notes, similar to a black tea. Yum! I can definitely see a comparison to wine from the fruitiness, and it’s somewhat astringent which I think is common for Darjeelings? I actually like this one a lot! Thanks Stacy! :)

This was my free tea during the birthday bash. Definitely a good choice.

it’s kinda woodsy, maybe a little hay, a little muscatal, a little sweet. Not astringent at all. Tasty.

Lewis and Clarke TTB

I haven’t had too many Darjeelings, but I’m always surprised by how complex they are. My first steep of this was while waiting for my dad to come fix my car, and I was too stressed to notice much in this. I think I got honey and hay.

MY second steep I’m having right now, and I’m getting hay and honey, peaches and maybe a touch of molasses. And there’s a background note that almost reminds me of wine.

This is very yummy, and I’m happy Stacy sent it for the box, because it’s something I would have most likely totally overlooked otherwise!

My Butiki order came yesterday! YAY!!! Happy Butiki day to everyone else enjoying birthday orders today, too!

I had to try this one first, after how good Stacy made it sound. It does not disappoint! Good darjeelings remind me of a cross between a black and a white tea. It has some delicious qualities of both. It is very smooth and has NO astringency. I find I actually prefer a little bit of astringency in my teas sometimes but this is pretty magnificent! The flavor is on the lighter side but the body of the liquor is somewhat thick.

I am enjoying tasting how the flavor is changing as the cup cools. This tea is complex and has a lot to offer :)

Stacy sent this one my way as a sample in my most recent order. I’m glad she did, since it wouldn’t be something i would leap all over. This is neither a roasty sort of darjeeling OR a green sort. it’s somewhere in the middle of all of that. :) i’m getting lemon and…hay? and it’s overall really sort of juicy. there’s no astringency and there’s a bit of a sweetness here that is really nice. i’m intrigued by this tea. May need to look at getting more of this to play with unless it’s gone before i can order again heh. I recommend trying this one out EVEN if you aren’t normally a fan of darjeelings. I find most darjeelings a little hard to drink with a few expections here and there. For me, this falls in to the latter category and this doesn’t remind me of your typical darjeeling.

Darjeelings are not always my favorite. I’m extraordinarily picky about them. For the last two years, my absolute favorite has been from Giddapahar. While, this estate seems to be a tad greener with their processing, the flavor is just outstanding. The tea is very complex and has wonderful sweet almond notes with peach and blackberry notes. There is just so much going on and quite a variety of flavors, including wood, lemon, hay, earth, and jasmine notes. When I heard that Giddapahar was making a special limited handrolled 2nd flush, I knew I had to jump at the opportunity, especially because they only made 11 kilos worth of this tea. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I was so excited when it arrived, I tore open the package. Wow, the scent was so amazing! The taste profile is very similar to the first flush, except that there is a muscatel flavor and the green-ness is much more toned down. It’s also a much fuller body and the astringency is gone. I’m really enjoying this tea quite a bit. It has a wonderful juicy flavor. Almond, peach, jasmine, and hay notes are the most prominent. There is something else present but I can’t put my finger on it right now. Will definitely have to experiment more on this one. Since this is so limited, when it’s gone it’s gone.

In other news, I’m working on 2 new teas today, a caramel apple Gui Fei and a mimosa puerh (this may or may not be a chai). Normally, I come up with flavors then find a tea for them and modify them from there but these guys I’m working with teas that I really want to flavor and trying to develop flavors for them specifically. I have done this with our Champagne & Rose Cream but it’s not typically how I work.