Margaret's Hope Estate Second Flush FTGFOP1 Darjeeling

>a distinctive muscatel character
umm… not the grape one, I suppose. But there certainly exists something unique flavor/aroma in your breath.

>and delicate sweetness.
it’s quite obvious.

My friend Todd has been visiting, so I haven’t had a chance yet to review a few new teas we had over the weekend.

This tea I took down to a small trail/park along Rock Creek with my shiboridashi. I received it in a cupboard destash from Meowster back in the day (thank you!) There was just enough leaf to fill it and we had a lazy afternoon session in the (blistering) heat listening to the birds and the creek. The tea and companionship was nice; the extremely hot weather, not so much!

There was about 4.5g for the 100ml shiboridashi. None of the steeps were timed and poured when it felt sufficient enough. The water thermos I brought got us through seven infusions.

The first steep smelt very malty with a sweeter orange marmalade undertone. The tea tasted malty, fruity (pithy orange), and floral (orange blossom). The second infusion was the only one that stood out to me as a bit bitter/tannic, with less fruity and floral notes and a stronger impression of wheat, rye, and malt. The third and fourth infusions brought forth a stronger florality, this time leaning subtly rosy. The orange reappeared in the flavor, along with that slight rosy flavor, with the malt more of an undertone. The remaining steeps remained more on the malty/bready side, though very smooth now. There were subtle spice notes, notably a touch of cinnamon and, in the very last steep, licorice.

Not a particularly complex darjeeling, but it is also getting on in age at this point. I didn’t get any of the darj muscat from this brew, but still found it faired well enough for an afternoon tea.

Have been doing thunderdome rounds between 2 Uptons at a time. Drank this yesterday afternoon when Steepster was down, comparing it to Upton’s Margaret’s Hope 2nd flush White Delight. And I was doing a darjeeling-a-thon the whole day; I compared two Thurbo 1st flushes and later two Thurbo 2nd flushes and then moved on to the Margaret’s Hopes.

Looks the part of a 2nd flush darjeeling in the cup, that pretty reddish brown. Smells lovely dry, that oh so slight musky perfume thing.

I really like the way this smells both dry and in the cup. Get the feeling I don’t quite love it in the cup as much as the winning 2nd flush Thurbo though. More astringent, which is eh, but also has a gentle lingering sort of…rooty, slightly bitter flavor that is actually quite good, and doesn’t show up at first, it takes a bit. That part’s cool. Earthy, a bit mineral/granite-y, kind of like soil, some rootiness. A nice vegetal flavor eventually shows up too, and as it cools a sweetness comes in at the finish of the swallow that’s nicely balanced with the other stuff.

So. It’s slightly astringent for my tastes, but the other stuff almost kinda makes up for it…complex and subtle, the way darjeelings are wont to be. I would drink it again…it’s not an easygoing drink-while-distracted-or-in-need-of-babying-comfort cup, but an interesting, fun-to-experience-its-nuances thing. The astringency is what keeps it from being something I could pick as my everyday-like-a-favorite-pair-of-jeans,-pick-only-one darjeeling.