Darjeeling-what's the draw?

yes! you probably had a bad darjeeling. try a fancier "first flush" single estate tea (like Namring or Castleton), and you'll be surprised how much different and better it tastes!

I guess I'll have to give it another shot. There's a great Indian area close by that should have good tea.

Don't be surprised if you don't find a good Darjeeling in the Indian cultural enclaves. I have yet to find anything better than Lipton "Green Label" in Artesia/Cerritos, my local little India. If you do find something, color me envious! If it's in Artesia, let me know!

How would you describe the taste?

Everyone has a different taster. I don't care for darjeeling either. I'm an oolong fan.

Life is short. Drink what you like and don't worry about what other people think.

P ~

I tend to agree...but I am suspicious that the one I bought may not be a good representative of the style. BTW, I'm a huge oolong fan as well. I bought a great one from a local Asian supermarket.

Pete

I guess I'll have to give it another shot. There's a big Indian neighborhood in Bellflower, CA that should have good tea.

Yes, that's where I'm thinking of....Pioneer Blvd. I'll have to pick some up. Is it any good?

Pete

I have never understood what all the fuss about Darjeeling was about. Granted, I've never had a second flush top-notch Darjeeling, but it's just not the kind of tea I'm interested in. It's too weak and fruity for my taste. I don't understand why everyone seems to like it.

For sure. IMO Darjeelings are a world of their own, but then I tasted a couple

100s if not more over the years. Their aromas and flavors cover a HUGE spectrum and they never cease to fascinate me. Just 3 days ago I picked up a 100g pack of wonderful autumnal leaves from a biodynamic (Demeter) village project. Depending on the major brewing parameters the aroma and flavors reached from exotic woods over extremely fruity (peaches) to a more flowery character that strongly reminded me of one of those handcrafted, lightly oxidised Oolongs I brought back from China. Don't get me wrong here, I really love chinese teas (Yunnans, Keemuns, Oolongs, Pu-Erhs) but when it comes to complexity (read: (finicky) chameleon like character) IMO not too many other leaves beat a high-grade Darjeeling, though the real jewels maybe hard to get in some parts of the world (entire series of top-notch leaves are often sold BEFORE the harvest even starts).

I can't wait to sample the new first flushes, but the weather doesn't look to good (for tea) these days, not a single drop of rain for weeks

- it slowly get's serious over here.

Karsten / Darjeeling

Hello Karsten, I am from Darjeeling and since you write "Karsten/Darjeeling" - are you from Darjeeling, if yes, which place?

I guess we're just weak and fruity people.

Seriously, don't worry about not liking Darjeeling, but also don't assume you will always dislike Darjeeling. My taste in tea has changed vastly over the years.

/Lew

I got the basic darjeeling sampler from Upton a while back, had a few cups of each, and was kind of unimpressed. I just went back to it yesterday, and the Aray Organic Second flush was just amazing. Natural sweetness, a wide variety of flavors. I can only guess that Darjeeling is especially sensitive to amount, water temp, and steep time.

I got the basic darjeeling sampler from Upton a while back, had a few cups of each, and was kind of unimpressed. I just went back to it yesterday, and the Aray Organic Second flush was just amazing. Natural sweetness, a wide variety of flavors. I can only guess that Darjeeling is especially sensitive to amount, water temp, and steep time.

This is pretty true of any delicate tea. It's true that it's not always easy to bring out the best in a tea, but with a little tinkering and a little care you can often find something good in even cheap teas too.

--scott

Amen to that. At the risk of taking some of the fun out of it, if you want to be able to reproduce your *good* results once you first obtain them, you probably need to measure and record what you do. To some extent, that is: there are lots of ways to do this, and you certainly don't need to measure and record every time.

/Lew

I wish I knew what I did with the Araya. Had some more today and it was nothing special. Water temp was the same, but I didn't bother measuring last time, nor did I really clock it. Doh!

I am new here, but am a great tea lover. Don't have great expertise on the subject but can write a few words on the subject. If you mean Arya tea, then I too had a good tea from Arya tea estate known as "Arya Ruby" which my friend had sent. It was a superb tea with good leaf appearance and gave a good result in the cup. Then I had to move to a new location for a few days on a business trip and I had carried this particular tea with me. Suprisingly, the liqor color along with the taste had tremendously changed. I double checked the tea that I had brought thinking I had packed some other tea, but it was the same. I had heard that water plays a vital role in the brewing of tea and this time I really had to believe it. It was the water that had played a major role here.

The other thing I would like to focus is the brewing quantities and time. I have noticed the best of teas giving the worst of results and this has often given a bad name to the tea which it is being tasted, but Darjeeling is such a sensitive tea which wholly depends on the consumer and his way of brewing. The quantity of tea put in your pot can make a huge difference along with the steeping times. If you over steep, Darjeelings tend to get bitter, but some love this tender bitterness as I do. I usually steep for 4-5 minutes (Darjeeling black tea - First and Second Flush) and about 3 minutes (Darjeeling black tea

- Autumnals) and Darjeeling whites (6-8 minutes).

Sorry to inform who don't like Darjeelings - I am a great fan of Darjeelings, specially Thurbo First flush (Tippy Clonal), Soureni, Arya, Gopaldhara, Risheehat, Orange Valley, Margaret's Hope and castleton(favorites), etc.