Darjeeling Avongrove S.F. Organic FTGFOP1

This was my tea of the morning (no incident today, y’all, smooth easy going morning…)

I probably like Darjeeling as much as I do Assam. Some of them are as effective in the morning as any bold Assams.

This is another one I purchase by the tin (when I say by the tin, I mean 100g or more).

I only slightly prefer SF to FF cause they usually hold more of that fruity muscatel taste I like so much. I also love the fresh citrusy astringency this one offers (not bitter) that activates my tastebuds. That feature is usually more present in the FF I own. So this tea makes the Dajeeling worlds collide!

I’ve said in previous note on this tea that it feels like my favourite pair of denim: it hugs me in all the right places. Well nothing has changed.

I’m in love with this tea and always surprised it hasn’t received more reviews.

(See previous note)

Today was a very good day, I was at home with the cats and dog. I watched some old Seinfeld episodes and laugh really hard. «Master of your domain» and «Goerge’s world collides» for those familiar with the show…OMG, a gem.

Laughter is the best therapy. If your a cat lover like I am please don’t hesitate and click this link. If you’re not a cat lover, don’t click cause it will make you hate them even more. I don’t want that!
A special friend sent it to me 2 days ago, and i can’t explain how much it amused me. Still does. Thanks, you know who you are :-)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s13dLaTIHSg

This was my tea of choice at work today. Thank you so much TheTeaFairy for sharing one of your favorite “morning” teas. :))
I don’t normally do very well with darjeelings. I usually find them to be too light and astringent for my tastes. This one wasn’t that bad. It was more of a “medium” black tea. Not really light and bright, not really big and bold – some where in between. This was still a little too astringent for my liking, and didn’t have the chocolate, malty notes that I adore from the Chinese blacks.
I’m sure this s a good quality tea for Zen Tea, it’s just not my favorite style.
Thanks for sharing. I may find a darjeeling that I like yet. :))

I still need my milk training wheels for Darjeeling teas. I hope to remove them, and grow a proper palate, by the time I finish all six of the Darjeelings in my cupboard. I’m not entirely optimistic I’ll succeed though.

This is Darjeeling No. 1 out of the way. I took a few sips without milk, felt unsteady on the dry woody terrain, and slammed those extra wheels right back on. Yeah, it was a humiliating show but I felt comfortable. That’s the important part, right?

The highlight of this tea is the sour fruity note in the finish and aftertaste. It’s tangy and grape-like, and makes me want to pull out the cheese and crackers. There’s also a curvy floral tone that’s kind of fancy, and fluffs things up.

This last cup is the best this tea has ever tasted for me. I don’t know if that’s due to me finally paying attention to how it properly or because I was more generous with the serving this time around, but it’s yummy today. Maybe working through the other five Darjeeling teas won’t be so much like a chore after all?

I have the chance to taste this lovely tea thanks to TheTeaFairy
I waited ages before having it but here I am and I love it.

The scent of the liquor was appealing to me, the kind of smell I recognize as a tea I would surely like…something delicate and floral.

Tasting it, it is clearly a citrusy with floral notes straight tea.More on citrus notes to me.
It has a light astringency in mouth and on the aftertaste but the kind of pleasant astringency offering a real personality to a blend.

I am often reticent to drink Darjeelings because I often had some unpleasant astringency with the ones I have had.This one is absolutely different and makes me change my mind.

Thank you so much TheTeaFairy for sharing one of your favourite teas with me !

Wow, I am the first to review this tea! And believe it or not, this is my first Darjeeling. At least the first that I can remember. I feel that I’ve probably had Darjeeling before, at least perhaps in a blend, because the scent of the steeping leaves is familiar.
I followed Zen Teas’ directions of a heaping teaspoon steeped for 2.5 minutes. The tea is a dark golden color.
Okay, this tea is smelling VERY familiar. I know I’ve had this somewhere! I’ve tasted it, and it’s a bit too hot to really taste at the moment, but I’m pretty sure my first introduction to loose leaf tea must have been a Darjeeling that my grandpa brought back from Russia. I instantly like this tea, and not just for nostalgic reasons. It’s tasty! It has some sort of a fruity flavor I can’t distinguish. I really wish I was better at this whole note finding thing, but I’m enjoying myself anyway. :-) It has an astringent finish that I’m not minding. I bet this tea would be amazing with cream and sweetener!

And so it is.

What I’m drinking here is a first flush of Zen Tea’s Organic Darjeeling. Connie, the owner of Zen Tea (www.ezentea.com), mentioned that this was one of their best sellers – that people were buying pounds at a time every weekend from their shop in the Atlanta area. I grabbed 2oz. for under $7.

I’m going to try this gongfu style. I’ve never done Indian tea that way. We’ll see how it goes.

Oh man! This tea is good! I can see why it’s so popular. It’s not entirely special or original, it’s exactly what a first flush darjeeling smells and tastes like. It’s like several other darjeelings I’ve had, but still… this one is done very very well.

Light and crisp citrusy/woody/assamica aroma. Citrusy flavor on the back of the tongue. I’m getting apple notes and classic assam flavors. Very mild astringency at the back of the throat.

This tea would blend well with apples or ginger.

I totes mc’goats recommend this tea. – Your Friend Rashad

This is a really lovely Darjeeling with a sweet and smooth flavour. The most notable characteristic is that it is very plain. It tastes like a plain, high quality black tea. I find it has hints of bitterness, but also sweet notes. I add half a tsp (a pinch) of brown sugar to round it out. It would also take milk, although it stands on its own and is quite drinkable straight. It doesn’t have a lot of unique characteristics, but it would make a solid daily drinker or English afternoon tea (served with scones or sweets, of course).

GCTTB Round 6

Thanks to whomever added this one to the tea box! I currently stock a white Darjeeling from Avongrove which I’ve been enjoying, so I was curious to try out a black Darjeeling to see how they compared. I mean, I knew there would be differences because of the tea type but there were qualities I was curious about to see if they’d carry over.

What I can say is that as far as Darjeeling goes, I found this one to be rather smooth with only the slightest bit of characteristic Darjeeling astringency/bite. That’s kind of in line with what I’ve noticed from my white Avongrove Darjeeling; it’s rather gentle and mild overall. Otherwise, this was really floral which was lovely and then it had a bit of soft malt and just a hint of that traditional muscatel quality in the finish as it was cooling down. I definitely didn’t read the muscat while it was still really hot though.

Pleasant, easy to drink and if nothing else always a good learning experience.

This tea has a mild note of malt and a note of what I can only think to call spice on the back of the throat. It is pretty good but not spectacular. It falls into the category of tea I will try to finish but probably not buy again.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 2.5 minutes.