A coworker, Gautam, was going back to India for a few weeks and asked me if I wanted anything so of course I asked for tea. I asked for a fully withered dark Darjeeling, the way Darjeeling teas were when I was a kid, and he went into a couple tea shops and brought me back some very interesting stuff. I have spent the past month or so drinking these along with a couple other Darjeelings that I am more familiar with and here's what I have been sipping:
- Fabindia "organic Darjeeling black tea," in bags. This claims in very small letters to come from the Ambootia tea estate, and it's really very nice for a bagged tea. The first cup I made was quite astringent but later cups made with the same time have been fine. It has got a little bit of woody burlap aftertone but none of the green flavour at all. It clearly would benefit from having a little more tea in the bag, though, or the bag made into a 6 oz. cup.
- Fabindia "pure organic Darjeeling black tea" in a wooden box, labelled below "OF O Tea Black Darjeeling Sycotta 100g." Same retailer as the bags above, but this comes from the Chamong tea estate. Less astringent, still not thick or deep but a very pleasant cup of tea, and it will remain respectable on the second and maybe even third steep.
- Basilur "Darjeeling tea" in a tin marked "Specialty Classics" and imported into India by SVA India Ltd. Basilur is a Ceylon tea vendor, who apparently blends Darjeeling tea and re-imports back into India.
This tea is very different than all of the others tried, it's got a much larger leaf and is much more flowery-tasting. It has much more of a nose to it, and given the amount of counterfeit Darjeeling tea out there and the fact this was blended outside of India, I am apt to suspect that this may not really be Darjeeling at all.
REFERENCE TEAS:
- Upton DJ-141 "Makaibari estate 2nd flush Darjeeling" which is what Upton's sent me when I asked for a fully withered Darjeeling. Clearly a higher end version of the same sort of style. Much more malty and thick, but it also has more of the green "grassy" flavour which I don't like so much.
- Rohini Enigma which I got mail order from Lochan Tea in Darjeeling. This seems to be a classic second-flush fully withered tea, and it seems very close to the Chamong tea up above, maybe a little darker.
SUMMARY:
All of these were good in some way and I have to say I think I liked the Basilur the best of the set even though I suspect it's not really a Darjeeling at all.
--scott