We Cup Darjeeling

Thanks for posting this. But *30g*?! That?s a lot of leaf. Are you sure that?s how much you used?

/Lew

That was a typo! It should have been 3.0g.

Experimentally, I found 1tsp of the Puttabong measured 1.8g and that when I took a pinch the size that I normally use for an 8oz mug, it weighed 3.2g, so I settled on 3.0 as a reasonable reference. Others may choose to use less or more but for God's sake don't use 30.

--scott

I think you'd have much better luck if your water was around 190ºF or so instead of boiling.

The thing is, these are all fully-withered teas, very dark and much more like an assam in processing than the modern almost-green darjeelings, so traditionally they are done with boiling water. I suppose I could try them with a slightly cooler water just to see, though. But they're not oolongs like most modern darjeeling is.

--scott

Sorry, I have to disagree with your last sentence. Oolongs aren?t fully oxidized/fermented, but not everything that?s partially oxidized is an oolong. There?s a lot of craft in making an oolong that isn?t required to make a black tea (even a ?black? tea that isn?t fully oxidized - I know, my head hurts, too.) Maybe that?s why, when Darjeeling gardens set out to make an oolong, the results tend to fall short.

/Lew

Okay, it's not really an oolong.... but it's not really a black tea. What it is, is a darjeeling. But it's different than the fully withered darjeelings which really are orthodox process black teas.

--scott

I don't know of any tea that is traditionally done with boiling water. Things may be different in the UK and associated nations, though.

There isn?t necessarily One True Tradition for a given tea. Plenty of people in China use boiling water for any number of oolongs. Short steeps, of course.

/Lew

I won't argue the point with you but the very idea of pouring boiling water onto tea leaves makes me shudder with horror.

I find most blacks become kind of insipid if you drop the water temperature much. It's not like drinking a green tea.

To add on the thread, this week I received the "Namring Second Flush Darjeeling" from Harney and Sons, and I am sorry to report that it has less overall flavour than any of the others in the trial mentioned before. The first steep is okay but uneventful, and it is down hill from there.

I'd hate to try this one with cooler water, it would have even less happening.

--scott

Have you tried any of the Darjeelings from SilverTips.com?

So, talking about the whole fully withered darjeeling thing on the ##tea channel on freenode (which appears to consist of refugees from reddit), someone suggested I try the "First Flush Jungpana 'Clonal Spring Delight'" tea from What-Cha, saying it was pretty dark.

And.... this is GREEN. This is so green. Not only that, it has the sort of fishy, seaweedy taste that some Japanese greens have, which I have never experienced in any other teas.

So I'd count it as interesting but diametrically opposed to the style I am looking for.

However.... in order to make up the order, I also ordered a mystery tea kit from What-Cha, and they sent two teas that were themselves much more interesting than the darjeeling.

They had something marked "Azores Orange Pekoe Black Tea." I had no idea they grew tea in the Azores at all. Very smooth and rounded with no real tannic bite to it at all. It's not something I'd pick as a daily drinking tea but it could sure be nice for blending to smooth out a harsher tea.

They also included some of the "Wild Boar" black tea from Vietnam which was again very smooth and rounded but with a much thicker mouthfeel and a deeper taste.

Anyway.... just wanted folks to know about some of this stuff. None of it was really to my taste but all of it was interesting and might be to yours.

--scott

I?m afraid you aren?t going to find a first flush Darjeeling that isn?t green these days.

/Lew

Sadly true. Even so, this was green even by THOSE standards.

--scott