Darjeeling question?

The only Darjeeling that I have had and known it was Twinings in the purple can. I don't know if anyone else has had this one, but it was much too green tasting for me and I am looking for more of a red tea. Are most Darjeelings like this (kinda green) or does it run the gamut like oolong? I have had all types of oolong, but similarly I like the darker ones and not the Taiwanese anes that really taste like a green tea to me. Anyone have darker Darjeeling or oolong recommendations? I am looking to try fine black teas, but do not want any half green types.

Reply to
bloehard
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Based on what you tried and how it tasted to you, I think you should stay away from Darjeelings for a while. Your taste may change, so don't give up on them forever.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Go to a local Indian grocery store and try a can of Lipton Green Label or Brooke Bond Supreme teas. That is a cheap way of getting some exposure to Darjeeling. And are more"black" than "green".

Reply to
Aloke Prasad

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com4/6/06 18: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Lew, I'm not sure I agree with you here; I think Mr. bloehard should experiment by roasting and further oxidizing some Darjeeling samples to see if he can get them more to his liking.

Roasting entails putting the dry leaves in a wok and bouncing them around awhile as they heat, never letting them scorch, and using the nose to tell when the leaves have had enough. I recommend overdoing this, and then pulling back iin later trials.

Further, oxidizing (fermenting, if you like) was discussed here or elsewhere recently. Exposure to air in a clean, but not overly dry, environment might do it. This would take some experimentation to get right, I suspect.

Modern Darjeeling is greener than old style Darjeeling, but, unlike the case of Oolongs, only the former seems available to us today. (He could of course jump in his way-back machine and find the old style, or he could visit an Indian grocery shop and pick up something wrapped in paper off the shelf. I found one a year ago, wrapped in paper printed with the year 1996 (or 1990 something). Gotta be sufficiently oxidized, and then some, eh?

Michael

Reply to
Michael Plant

Upton currently has one Darjeeling still made in the older style: TD75 (Tongsong Dtriah Estate FTGFOP Second Flush (DJ-291)). But the trend in Darjeeling is to a oolong style for second flush and a green style for first flush. Personally, I'm all for it - If I want strong black tea I'll drink Nilgiri or Assam. But to each his own. I've not tried the tea above, but I have had others from Upton made in the older style and they were good. I just prefer the modern styles.

Regards, Dean

Reply to
DPM

This re-raises the question of what is meant in the tea world by the terms *oxidation* and *fermentation*. The latter is generally considered to be a biochemical process, requiring enzymes, which may be present as live organisms (as in wine production) or their residues (as in brewing beer or whiskey mash). I would have thought that such enzymes are unlikely to survive later stages of tea treatment, though someone else here (Nigel?) might know.

That leaves plain old autoxidation, a slow process at room temperature. Though people do go on about aged oolongs, I'm inclined to suspect that it's the repeated roasting rather than slow oxidation that does whatever that magic may be. Certainly a lot of the desirable notes in many teas are embodied in relatively fragile molecules that won't survive repeated roasting or long storage in air.

So - I don't doubt that green Darjeelings can be moved over to another, less-astringent taste regime. But I think it would be hard to get that old-style oolongsome effect outside of the initial process.

I miss the old Darjeeling style as well. Can anyone recommend specific (and readily available) offerings to add to Dean's list?

-DM

Reply to
DogMa

Is it my imagination, or have Darjeelings, on the average, been getting greener and greener in the past twenty years or so?

I do much prefer a more strongly fermented Darjeeling, but they seem to be increasingly hard to find.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

From what I've gleaned, the oxidation that takes place during tea manufacture, e.g. in blacks and oolongs, the process that gives them a different taste and mouth feel - not to mention aroma - from greens, is oxidation of *polyphenols*. And this oxidation is catalyzed by

*enzymes* in the leaves known as polyphenol oxidases. These enzymes, from what I've gathered, are destroyed in the application of high heat (fixation) during tea manufacture. I'm not a chemist, so I welcome correction or refinement of this sketch.

All of this seems plausible, but it leaves open the question of what's being oxidized post fixation. If it isn't polyphenols, then its oxidation won't give the leaves more black/oolong character, presumably.

Obviously we agree.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Lew, did anybody say something different ?

Karsten

Reply to
psyflake

No, and I apologize if I left the impression I was "correcting" you.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

I think this is a phenomena for the "western" markets. Thus, try the Darjeelings marketed to the Indian crowd (available as imports in Indian grocery stores). Those would still have the full flavor and more color than the greenish Darj's.

Reply to
Aloke Prasad

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