Organic Darjeeling Goomtee

Yesterday morning I excitedly steeped up the newest black tea in my cupboard. If asked, I wouldn’t be able to remember having ever had a darjeeling. Yet oddly, I seem to have the idea in my head that I don’t care much for darjeelings.

The Dry Leaves — Black, brown, reddish tan, and muted green. Small, some straight, some curled. The smell is black, paper, airy, slightly floral, and a bit of fresh raw olives. Good.

The Wet Leaves — Brown with a few being olive green-brown. Larger than I’d have expected. The smell is very faint, sweet, papery, black tea.

The Tea — Rich golden brown. The smell is light but floral, sweet, papery, musty, black tea. The dry leaves definitely had the strongest more complex smell. The taste is sweet deep floral in the front through the middle. The middle brings a round solidness which is stronger and full with just a hint of sharpness but not at all floral. This follows through to the end of each sip. I don’t really know what to compare this taste to but it’s good. Overall, this tea is just lovely.

This tea instantly reminded me of A&D’s Napal. I don’t know if Napal is a darjeeling or not. I might guess so after having this tea. The floral quality to them is very similar. I think I like this tea better than Napal, but time will tell for sure. This tea seems to have more to it.

I went with 4 minutes for the first steep and the tea was definitely strong enough. I might try 3 minutes 30 seconds and 4 minutes 30 sec to see if I’d prefer it weaker or stronger then head in that direction. But I think 4 minutes will be a perfectly acceptable steep.

2nd steep: 6 min.
On the first few sips, I thought it was too weak and I’d need to add a pinch of fresh leaves to get a second steep from it. As the tea cooled a bit, I realize this was not the case. Yes, it is weaker than the 1st steep, but it still has enough drinkable flavor to stand on its own.

I am rating Darjeeling Goomtee a 78, on the high end of good (60-80), the same as Napal. I suspect the rating on one of the teas will be moved a few points after I’ve had more of this tea or tasted them closer together. I also suspect this tea will end up the higher rated of the two.

This is a really good first flush Darjeeling. A very nice nutty tone to it, with pleasant honey-like notes, and a brisk astringency that feels clean and refreshing.

Currently working on my review for this tea on SororiTEA Sisters:

http://sororitea.wordpress.com

It will publish tomorrow evening! Watch for it!

Oh…hello there! Aren’t you squeaky clean!? This is nutty-sweet with a light honey taste. A very good darjeeling!

Thank you for this LiberTEAs!!!!

This has a great fragrance that’s subtle, yet well defined. It’s nutty and peppery with a bit of citrus and honey.

Prepared, this is a really well balanced darjeeling. It’s nutty and slightly astringent but is far more mellow than others I’ve had in the same category. Waking up to this tea is more like a small bell as opposed to the gong of a darjeeling I normally drink.

Thanks LiberTEAS for the sample!

Sipdown no. 157 for the year 2014. This is a back log from yesterday when I polished off the last little bit of this as my morning hot cup.

I’m on a sipdown roll with these black Leafspas. Though Darjeeling isn’t really black, they just call it that. This is the third sipdown of a mega tin inside of a week, helped tremendously by the cold brewing that is going on pretty frequently these days given the heat here. I let this one steep a bit too long I think, but it’s still tasty and just a tad bitter. Darjeeling makes an interesting cold brew. I don’t know that I’d pick it for that ordinarily as it’s a little piquant for a cold tea in my book.

Which raises a question. What else do you like to cold brew? Is oolong a good choice? I have a ton of it and not as much time these days as I need to enjoy it hot through multiple steeps. If it’s a good choice, how long should it brew, or does it matter?

Also, what about pu erh? I have a lot of loose pu erh and the idea of cold brewing it sounds kind of yuck, but I dunno, maybe it would be interesting?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and sorry for my continued sporadic appearances. Things are getting kind of complicated here. The BF was admitted to the hospital last night with raging diabetes, and they haven’t let him out yet, so things are under an unusual amount of stress. Hope everyone else is having a better week. :-)