Giddapahar Exotic Darjeeling First Flush Black Tea

This is a light and brisk infusion, starting with herbaceous and citrusy notes, then slowly evolving into base notes of grapes and muscatel. Not my favourite tea, as I find it slightly too astringent for my taste, but pleasant enough.

I diverged a bit from my regular Ceylon black teas I’ve been having recently to have a first flush Darjeeling this afternoon. This was a sample I received from Vahdam Teas, in their Black Tea Sampler package.

The dried leaves were broken and machine rolled, varying between light green and deep green.

I steeped 9 grams of dried leaves in 20 ounces of near-boiling water for 4 minutes.

The color of the finished liquor was like a dark wheat color—not exactly yellow, but not exactly brown, either. The aroma of the liquor was quite vegetal—like cooked peas.

The aroma of cooked peas carried over into the flavor of the tea, along with dry grass or hay, slight muscatel grape and other fruity notes, and a floral flavor which started slight and intensified as the tea cooled. Maybe it is because it has been a few months since I had a first flush Darjeeling tea, but I was very impressed with this one. It was an excellent afternoon tea, complete with a low caffeine content.

I’m continuing to trample through the tea fields of Darjeeling, and I like what I see. Taste. I like what I taste…

I greatly appreciate the herbal notes that cut through the more familiar black tea richness. I really like Chinese black teas, but they can definitely be a bit much whether with maltiness, nuttiness, or even fruitiness. The greenness of these FF Darjeelings are like a good aperitif – the sharper flavors stimulate your taste buds and create waves of flavor with the underlying richer flavors.

I should note that I am continuing to gong fu these teas. I really want to experience all the nuances with flavor. Maybe once I commit to purchasing something more than my 10g samples I will branch out and try some more traditional preparations.
*
Dry leaf – peanut shell, pistachio, hay, wheat bran, grape leaf, dried parsley, hints of sassafras, stewed tart berry. In preheated vessel – thick wildflower honey and pungent stewed red fruit notes arrive.

Smell – roasted nuts, grapeleaf, note of lightly toasted marshmallow

Taste – arrival of very nutty notes – peanut and pistachio, with grapeleaf and milky black tea. Development of light malt, marshmallow. Finish of dried parsley, red currant, and hint of milk chocolate. Aftertaste of mint and parsley with hint of chocolately sweetness with tangy red fruit.

This is quite good. There is a sweet note of muscatel grapes, the classic note of a first flush Darjeeling. It doesn’t taste like a black tea to me at all. Some have said that it should be classified as an oolong but it doesn’t taste like any oolong I have had either and it certainly doesn’t have any green tea notes despite having a number of green leaves. I really think that first flush Darjeelings should be classified as a seventh type of tea, they are that different from everything else.

I steeped this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

Beautifully fragrant with profound floral notes, yet bitter, despite a light touch with time and temperature. Hard to rate. Were it not for the bitter elements, I’d give this an 80’something. But the bitter notes turn me off quite a bit and merit something in the 50s or 60s. I suppose a 65 is about right.