India Bihar Doke Hand-Made 'Diamond' Green Tea

Today morning tea I got from White Antlers, thank you!
Sweet mango aroma and fruity taste
I have to say, it is tea harvested in July in 2015 and it’s still quite fruity. Of course, the age caused that it isn’t that great as fresh.

It was quite still fruity and just a bit rough on tongue. I think the short steeps are key for a nice cup (and two pinches of tea was just right); hopefully I can reproduce this steep again (as I wasn’t last time!).

Still I have lots of this tea and well, honestly I hope I will finish it soon as many of those greens. It’s quite old and far from best time; but honestly sometimes it keeps surprising me. Like this one today. Not super amazing, but certainly still good.

The land we call home burns once again. I’m holed up in the house, safe in my town. A few of my coworkers have had to evacuate. The smoke is thick in the valley today. Since I’m staying in, I might as well put a dent in this massive gift box of tea, recover from the madness of work this week as 5 counties of people scrambled to our store for emergency supplies. I think a lot of people still have PTSD from the massive, devastating fires of the past three years. Not to mention the stress of this year has been relentless! Life is resilient, though.

This was one of many unopened green teas from White Antlers. July 2015 harvest.

Dry leaf is very dark brown and hard, wiry and twisted spindles that smell of smoke and leather-tobacco, rounded out by mango skin and with a thick bottom sweetness of brown sugar and papaya.

First steep produced a clear, pinkish yellow cup with a light mango skin aroma and a touch of smoke. Light body and tastes with a hay mid/base note, a hint of smoke and a mango skin-apricot mid/high tone. Mineral on sip with a very drying finish. Very light fruity aftertaste. Following a second steep, the leaves were still not unfurled so I went for a third which was tasteless. The spent leaves revealed a pick of nearly all 2 leaves and a bud.

Based on the dry leaf aroma and TeaNecromancer’s experience (who picked up on remarkably similar notes as myself) with this tea 5 years ago, it seems like this green tea would have been a delight when fresh. It’s still drinkable, likely due to how it was processed and being stored in the original sealed pouch.

Good news! My warranty is covering having my camera fixed…or failing that replaced! Not a disaster after all. Though I am not sure how long it will take to get it backed, meaning I might have to use my phone camera to review new teas, or I will just rely on the rather large perpetual backlog I have…well…logged. I am breathing such a huge sigh of relief that my camera is not totally doomed, and glad I broke it when it was still under warranty!

It has been a while since I looked at a tea from India, so I thought I would rectify that with India Bihar Doke Hand-Made ‘Diamond’ Green Tea from What-Cha! This unique tea comes from the Doke Tea Garden run by the Lochan family, but what makes this garden so special is it grown in Bihar, an area that until now was not a tea growing region. The tea itself is hand-crafted, giving it a wonderful artisan feel, and also it means really big pretty leaves! The dry leaves are fairly dark, and they smell pretty epic. Strong notes of mango and citrus blend with gentle nuttiness and a slight undertone of leather, for a green tea it has an earthy heaviness which I find unique. One thing I found quite entertaining about the aroma is it was not just mango fruit, there was the definite green sharpness of mango skin, quite fascinating!

In my steeping apparatus, the leaves are not longer dark, turning vibrantly green while steeping. The aroma of the soggy leaves is intensely sweet, strong notes of mango and papaya for a tropical smelling pile of leaves, the addition of warm honey at the finish pushes the aroma to almost decadent. The liquid is very sweet, like mango nectar and a touch of papaya with honey and a tiny touch of vegetation at the finish, to remind me that this is a green tea and not a fruit.

Tasting this tea is quite the treat, it manages to be very smooth and delicate while also being intensely sweet. It starts with mango and freshly cut hay, the mango notes linger and mix with papaya and honey at the midtaste. For the finish there is a mingling of gentle tobacco and a slight nuttiness with a lingering mango sweetness that stays around for a while. This was a unique treat, just the right amount of sweetness, and the tobacco notes at the end give it depth and keep it from being too light.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/what-cha-india-bihar-doke-hand-made.html