Black Third Flush (Autumn) Single Estate Darjeeling FTGFOP1 from Teabox

The scent of the dry tea leaves is bright and fresh with a richer, perhaps malty tinge. At first I was a little worried that my tea would end up tasting like a bale of orchard grass hay, but fortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case.

I steeped the tea according to the steeping recommendations on the packet, although I may have been a bit generous with the leaves. The leaves are on the small side but not superfine or too small to be good quality. They’re third flush, or autumn harvested, which means the flavor is different because the leaves are growing more slowly in the autumn as opposed to the rapid spring and summer growth of the first two flushes. This may be why this tea seems maltier and less floral than other darjeelings I’ve tried.

There’s a distinct black tea fragrance as soon as the leaves hit the water. The fresh, grass-hay fragrance note doesn’t go away but it melds with the heady floral and malt of the oxidized tea. I can definitely catch the floral scent in this tea, although the grass-hay scent seems to me to be more prominent than the malty scent that’s mentioned in the description.

After steeping, the liquor is a yellow-tinged orange color and rather dark, although it’s not one of the darkest blacks I’ve seen. As for flavor, it’s very floral and sweet, but it’s tangy too, with the astringency pulling at the sides of my tongue, but there’s no bitterness, which is nice. Although I can still catch the orchard-grass scent once the tea is steeped, there’s no grass/hay taste in the tea itself. Also, I know I said floral, but this tea is not strong-flavored; it’s delicately floral as opposed to being overwhelmingly jasmine-y.

This particular tea is just lovely with a bit of sugar. I’d say that’s my favorite way to drink it, with just a bit of sugar and no milk. Yes, it’s good with milk too, and I usually like milk in my tea, but here I find that I don’t like the way the milk cushions and muffles the tea flavors.

It’s a nice, warming, strengthening cup overall, and I’d certainly enjoy keeping this one in my stash! I’ll also have to go and check out some more third flush darjeelings to see whether I can find the characteristics I admired in this tea elsewhere or whether they’re unique to this tea alone.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: TeaBox
Description

This tea doesn’t appear to be on the website but click below for their bestselling teas below.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Namring Special Autumn Darjeeling Black from Teabox

teashotTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy: Teabox

Tea Description:

Autumnals from Darjeeling are known for their smooth and aromatic make. This blend tugs at the senses with its rich floral bouquet, although retrained. While light in cup, this tea impresses with its fullness.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Wow! Teabox has some pretty impressive teas and I have to say this one is fabulous and perfect for the chaotic week or so we’ve had in my family!

This tea had such a lovely almost floral aroma to it while it steeped. I steeped the tea per the instructions on the package and have to say they resulted in one gorgeous cuppa!

I love my Darjeelings for the lovely well balanced and smooth flavors they offer. I don’t like I’ve come across one I don’t like yet. This one (like I said) had a lovely floral aroma but the flavors were full blown malty with a hint of a citrus touch here and there.  One of those whole mouth feel sort of teas that really help you ease into your evening with class.  But be warned, this tea is one that will be come astringent quite quickly and will leave you with a rather mouth drying tea if you don’t goble it up while it is freshly brewed.

Another stunning example of the wonderful teas Teabox has to offer!