Darjeeling The Second Flush

Darjeeling Second Flush, I hardly knew ye. Drank the last of this today in my to go mug. It’s still pretty tasty but I miss my malt monster black tea. Thankfully my friend Becky and I are tea swapping and she’s sending me nearly a pound of Malachi McCormick! Am I lucky or what?

Some news for my Steepster pals: my hearing test resulted in good news and bad news. The good news is that while I do have some hearing loss, the audiologist said it’s not too severe and she did not think that I need a hearing aid at this time. The bad news is she does think I have some nerve damage inside my ear, and said I should see an ENT as soon as I can afford it.

In other news, I am now an official member of the Letter Writers Alliance! If you would like some snail mail, feel free to send me a message with your address. :) One caveat is that I am a pretty busy person, and it may take me awhile to get something cool out in the mail to you.

History Laced swapped this with me ages ago, for Christmas, but I’m only getting to it now. I’m so slow with trying tea samples and getting back to people; I need to work on that. Cavocorax sent me a whole slew of Darjeeling samples and I have yet to try any of them. Soon.

I dumped a small spoonful of this in my David’s Tea perfect mug and left it in boiling water for four minutes- it was rather fine. A little hay-ish, a little nippy, and kind of sweet, like honey. Maybe some fruity jam too. I’m pretty happy with this cup, a lot more than I thought I’d be.

I’ve had this in my cupboard for a while as I had some bad experiences with darjeelings that put me off of trying this. Turns out? Tis one isn’t so bad. I’m not sure if its the fact that its second flush but its got a toasty feeling to it, though it does leave a dryness in my mouth that I’m not a huge fan of. Still though, I really should drink this mor often as its pretty good :)

I received this as a sample from Sil. Thank you.

Happy to have the opportunity to try more black teas, but this really just confirms that darjeelings are not for me. This wasn’t as bad as others I’ve tried, but it was still a bit bitter and astringent to my tastes. I think I’m just going to cross darjeelings off the list and keep exploring blacks in another direction. Thanks Sil for the the sample.

Dry leaf: roasty & mineral with a hint of anise

Brewed: Roasted orange squash x1000

Good roasted sweet flavors. I love that in a nekkid tea.

The dry leaves have a rich, intense aroma that reminds me of dark chocolate. The liquor sort of resembles dark chocolate too (though this may be due to the fact that I have oversteeped it for about 30 seconds), it is bittersweet and slightly smoky. Not really like a Darjeeling to me!

It has a very pleasant aroma akin to Twining’s English Breakfast or Lupicia’s Afternoon Tea. But it tastes very plain for a black tea. It’s not strong at all.

I drank it straight, and I have the feeling that if I add milk or sugar, it would probably completely mask the taste of the tea.

This is a light, subtle black tea. I almost feel like I’m drinking a green or oolong tea because it’s so light. Maybe I watered it down too much (I tend to do that sometimes).

Before Steeping:
Color- Black Tea
Scent- Rich Full Body black Tea

After Steeping:
Color- Honey/Amber
Scent-Honey and Black Tea

Taste:
Nude- Rich black tea, with a slight taste honey
With Sugar- Honey like very tea

*could be a bit stronger, to add a little more tea into the pot, otherwise, one of my favorite black teas

I’ve been drinking this down at work, and its been very enjoyable.
It was a smooth, easy sort of Darjeeling, and I should not have left it so neglected for so long.
But now it is a sipdown!

An employee at Lupicia told me that this was a popular Darjeeling because it was a compromise between the first flush and the third flush. It’s marketed as having a lot of muscatel flavor, which is what I might be tasting and not liking. However, my tea vocabulary is small, and it’s quite possible that the flavor I’m not enjoying is something else. It just tastes kind of muddy and generic to me.