Estate Darjeeling Whole-Leaf Loose Tea

gourmet food: Estate Darjeeling Whole-Leaf Loose Tea

gourmet food:

Estate Darjeeling ...

	Estate Darjeeling Whole-Leaf Loose Tea China Mist Brands China Mist Brands average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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Fine Darjeeling tea with a hint of honey in the nose, slightly floral and slightly nutty. The cup is balanced and delicious. A very satisfying tea from a lovely estate.

Exquisite.

Unquestionably the most refined of teas, Darjeeling comes from a region in the Indian (West Bengalese) Himalayas close to the Nepalese border, 7000 ft above sea level. Originating with the small-time, private, mid-19th century plantations of a British civil surgeon named Dr. Campbell, tea has long since transformed the region into a major economic center, with over 80 running gardens producing over 10 million kgs (over 22 million lbs) of tea on a total area of almost 20,000 hectares (approximately 75 square miles), and employing over 50,000 people on a permanent basis, with a further 15,000 being hired during the plucking season (March - November). The area's natural climate with its mixture of rainfall, sunshine and rich soil makes for a very distinctive flavor, and to be called "Darjeeling," tea must have been grown and processed in that particular region.

Darjeeling tea comes in several harvest varieties or "flushes": the lighter Easter harvest or first flush, and the stronger Spring harvest or second flush, which has an unmistakeably fruity, Muscatel-like note. (There is also a Summer harvest or third flush, which is even stronger than the tea from the second harvest, but it is somewhat less refined and therefore less popular than the first two varieties.)

This particular tea from Milikthong Estate is about as refined as you can get when it comes to Darjeelings (and hence, to tea culture in general): an exquisite, highly aromatic single-estate Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP), i.e. a tea of the much sought-after, supreme whole leaf grade containing a particularly high content of delicate, quick-steeping, golden-orange "tips," the very ends of the bud's leaves, which constitute a guarantee of quality. (The higher the content of tips, the higher the quality; and to qualify as FTGFOP, a tea must have a particularly high portion of tips.) The addition of the number "1" designates it as one of the finest in its category.

This is a tea for truly special occasions ... for a treat, there's hardly anything better than a cup of this, a good book (or a good conversation) and a plate of scones or other little afternoon tea cakes. Enjoy!

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