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“Another Sipdown from my trade with NofarS. I think I’m starting to get the hang of Darjeelings. I steeped this at 190, & it’s not bad. I think I gave it 2 mins. The aroma reminds me of...” Read full tasting note
“mmmm i like this one! even though it has a little astringency to it, it’s not unpleasant. I could get behind drinking this one on a more regular basis if i needed a darjeeling to add to the...” Read full tasting note
“This tea brews to a reddish gold colour that has a pronounced yet not unpleasant astringency to it. It is has the muscatel flavours that F&M advertise, but if you like your tea with milk or...” Read full tasting note
“Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 16 (sachets) This is a different darjeeling from the one in their tins advent calendar. If I recall the color of the other one correctly, this one is a little...” Read full tasting note
In tea as in wine, challenging growing conditions often yield the most highly prized specimens. This champagne of teas, harvested from the foothills of the Himalayas, is one of the highest-grown teas, from bushes more than a century old. Made from leaf tips of the highest quality, it has a subtle Muscatel taste and a full-bodied and robust character.
Taste and Strength
Subtle muscatel flavours
When to Drink
Best in the afternoon
Origin
Darjeeling
Brewing Information
Use boiling water and brew for 3-5 minutes depending on taste. Serve with milk or brew lighter and drink without milk.
Storage advice
Airtight container, preferably a tea caddy.
Company description not available.
Another Sipdown from my trade with NofarS.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of Darjeelings. I steeped this at 190, & it’s not bad. I think I gave it 2 mins. The aroma reminds me of something, but I just can’t say what it is. The tea a little on the astringent side, but also kind of sweet & savory at the same time.
Not something I would want to drink regularly, but worth trying.
mmmm i like this one! even though it has a little astringency to it, it’s not unpleasant. I could get behind drinking this one on a more regular basis if i needed a darjeeling to add to the rotation. I still think that i’d rather drink a straight up black tea most days though.
This tea brews to a reddish gold colour that has a pronounced yet not unpleasant astringency to it. It is has the muscatel flavours that F&M advertise, but if you like your tea with milk or don’t enjoy teas with a kick then perhaps you would do better buying one of F&M’s other brews. As a Darjeeling this tea is good, it just isn’t very memorable.
Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 16 (sachets)
This is a different darjeeling from the one in their tins advent calendar. If I recall the color of the other one correctly, this one is a little lighter.
Breakfast was toast made from Buttermilk Bread that middle daughter made using flour from wheat she freshly milled. Hearty bread. Toasted, buttered, and smeared with Fortnum Strawberry Preserve. Against this backdrop – the nutty, hearty bread and the sweet strawberry – the first sips were almost smoky. It definitely had the heft to accompany my breakfast and not disappear like a shrinking violet against the strong grain and sweet flavors.
The sachet is crammed full of saturated leaf and the color so good on the second steep still that I decided to go for a third steep. It is lighter now, but still flavorful and brisk. I find all Darjeeling brisk and adjust my steeping time and temp to get it to where I can enjoy it, since I don’t love briskness, although it does make it go better with food sometimes.
I am pretty sure that if I released those leaves from the sachet I could get a pretty nice fourth steep from this, but I think I am ready to move on to a different tea now.
This was an interesting tea. Very glad to try it in the advent.
What a breakfast! :D
I don’t even care about the tea. At this point I’m here for that bread! She milled her own grain for bread?! Wow, that’s impressive!
Dustin: Yes! Ashman built a special cabinet to hold grain – about 140 pounds at a time when all buckets are full. Middle daughter had allergies and simple carb cravings as a child so we started milling grain for our baking to try to boost her nutrition and it worked. There is amlot more Vitamin E in freshly milled flour, and fiber is boosted as well.
I wondered how well she would handle the switch to freshly milled whole wheat but from the first loaf she was standing behind me with a bread knife as it came out of the oven. Now she makes most of her bread herself. We use a mix of hard red and hard white for bread, soft white for cakes and brownies, hard red alone for most cookies because it has such a nutty flavor. It is really easy to do with a grain mill! But I would love to someday have a gorgeous cast iron hand cranked mill! Just for fun!
That’s really cool!
Echoing Dustin here, but that is super cool!
Advent Day 5
This has a very floral scent to it! It is smooth on the sip with a tart tannic bite at the end of the sip and hints of rose in the finish. I’m not accustomed to darjeelings and it’s looking like I may have steeped this at too hot a temp. If so, it held up surprisingly well with only a little bitter bite. I’m not taken by this tea, but I’ll gladly finish the cup.
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.
Hmmmmm interesting. I might try mine again with lower water temp. I was using 95C (203F).
Yeah I usually steep mine at that temp as well, they are much better that way. ;)
Darjeelings = lower temp as far as I can tell otherwise they taste…ugh.
Even with the lower temp, this got more astringent as it cooled. Just saying.
I had one assam from Fortnum & Mason and I wasn’t too impressed with it