Decaf Darjeeling

I still have an embarrassment of this tea, which is far too old to take very seriously. (Novice Steepsters, never order a whole pound of tea!) New, it was mild and a little watery due to the decaffeination but you could identify it as a Darjeeling without looking at the label. Now there’s almost nothing left of the grape-iness, just a little bitter nip at the end of each sip.

However, after my week of full-throttle kid wrangling that ended with a Family Night event akin to Nickelodeon Double Dare on steroids, I slept hard for eleven hours and have been starving for carbs all day. The bitterness is a fair balance to the little Pillsbury blueberry biscuits I’m noshing on.

I’m not quite ready to compost the remaining stock—there are still lots of hot weather days ahead and it will ice down OK—but once it’s gone, I’ll just let it stay gone.

Thanks to Nicole for this sample

This is the first Darjeeling I have tried. I am not sure what notes I am supposed to pick up on, but this tea is smooth with a little bit of astingency. I am not picking up the typical black tea base, but that is likely because it is a decaf.

As Nicole mentioned in her note, I am sure this would make a great iced tea!

Another tea from the traveling tea box.

This is a nice, smooth cup. Nothing amazing or complex, but most certainly delicious and comforting. I can see myself reaching for this on those nights when I’m not craving an herbal but still want to avoid caffeine. It’s not at all astringent, and I’m sure it would be wonderful with cream and sugar. Tonight, however, I’m drinking it sans additions, and it is very nice.

I have enough tea leaves left for one more cup. I’ll probably sweeten that one (perhaps with some rock sugar?) just to see. If I like it as much as I think I will then I’ll be adding one more tea to my shopping list. Because, you know, I need one more tea on my shopping list. Yeah.

Thank you Nicole for sending this along! I want to try any Harney I can! This one is wonderful while it is HOT but I really don’t like the flavor while it cools. It turns very bitter and astringent. But while it’s hot, it’s fine! It has a great silky black tea flavor. And MUCH different from the green darjeeling I had yesterday, which was more like oolong. This was probably my least favorite Harney tea, but I haven’t had many and probably tried the best (Hot Cinnamon Sunset & Paris).

First I would like to say that I didn’t know this was decaf until I was ready to log it! So…in a way…that is good…because I thought it tasted a little ‘weak’ but now it makes sense. For a Decaf – it’s tasty – gentle – pretty good. BUT…why the hell did I start my day with a DECAF! Yeah…it’s Friday! Woot! WOW!

This is fairly astringent but the taste doesn’t linger long. Not bad!

This is my first Darjeeling that I’ve tried. I would like to thank Nicole for sending me this loose tea. :)
I brewed the Decaf Darjeeling at 195 degrees Fahrenheit. I steeped it for approximately four to five minutes. I personally have a preference for black teas, so I was excited to try this tea. I also thought that it would be perfect for times when I do not want to consume less caffeine.
I enjoyed drinking this tea especially during mid-day. It has a calming effect on me while giving me just enough alertness. The flavor of the Darjeeling was a smooth, while having a bit of an astringent taste.
The liquor was a shade of gold/champagne. In the future I would love to try this tea, iced.

My go-to tea for iced tea drinking. I’m sure there are better quality darjeelings out there, but this one suits my needs.