Saturday Morning Tea

Apr6

Good morning, dear tea friends! I hope you all had a wonderful, tea-filled week. I have another experiment in my cup this morning, with a 2-year-old first flush Darjeeling from the Tumsong Estate. I’ve decided to do the opposite of my last experiment and try the tea first before going back and looking at my first post about it. So, here goes…

Taking into account its age, I used a little bit more leaf and steeped for 4 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. The olive-colored leaves are mostly broken up but I was able to find an intact baby leaf here and there.

Like this lovely specimen.

Isn’t that marvelous? Whenever I see a whole leaf like that, it conjures up images of tea bushes growing under a wide, blue sky on the other side of the world, with women in brightly colored garments weaving in a delicate dance amongst the rows, plucking the newly grown leaf.

The tea liquor is a brilliant golden sunshine-y color with an orange tinge reminding me of fresh papaya. The flavor is tangy, with a rounded pungency that wakes up my taste buds. A whisper of almond and refreshing citrus greets those awakened taste buds with each sip.

I love the color of this tea so much that I brought out my glass teamug so I could enjoy it while I sipped.

My conclusion is that like the other older first flush teas I’ve tried, this tea has stood up well and can be quite a wonderful cup if you give it some tweaks to how it might have been originally steeped when it was a newborn.

Stay tuned for next week when I rerun my post from two years ago. I’m really enjoying this first flush journey and hope you are, too!

“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let it go.”

~Carol Burnett

Saturday Morning Tea

Mar30

Good morning, dear tea friends! I’m back this week with a revisit to our 2012 harvest Glenburn Estate first flush Darjeeling. Last week, I reran my post from last April, when I reviewed it shortly after its arrival.

This tea is a very early harvest from the first flush season. The leaf is quite green with silvery white tips threaded throughout the green leaf. That said, this tea has been processed as a black tea.

Last year, I steeped the leaf for 3 minutes in just under boiling point water (200F). This year I steeped the leaf for 4 minutes in boiling point water (212F).

As I lifted the infuser from my glass teapot, I inhaled a delicate floral aroma from the pale gold tea liquor, as last year.

Last year, I photographed a pile of the wet tea leaves. This year, I wanted to see what a leaf pile consists of so I lifted out some individual pieces. I see tiny buds (baby leaf) mixed with broken pieces of whole leaf. Look at the serrations on the edge of that leaf to the right.

The tea liquor color is lighter than the first flush tea I reviewed 2 weeks ago, from the Thurbo Estate. I’m not sure why but it could be because this tea was harvested quite early in the season. The tea estates assign “DJ” numbers to the tea lots. This tea’s “DJ” number is 4 whereas the Thurbo lot is 45. Perhaps the Thurbo was harvested a couple of weeks later in the season?

At 4 minutes, the tea is quite smooth and very flavorful with pronounced floral notes, just like last year. I even remarked in last year’s post that it would be interesting to push the steeping time as the tea was quite smooth. I think I’m going to try 5 minutes on my next steep. I’ll let you know next week how it tasted.

So, my experiment was a success in that it showed how amazingly well this tea has held up a year later. Sometimes I talk to customers who tend to shy away from the teas from older harvests. I say – try a sample. You will probably be most pleasantly surprised!

I’ve just heard this week that we have three 2013 first flush Darjeelings arriving within the next several weeks. Oh, happy day! I will post a review as soon as they arrive.

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”

~Rainer Marie Rilke

Saturday Morning Tea

Mar23

Good morning, dear tea friends! This morning I am re-running a post from last April on the Glenburn Estate first flush Darjeeling, harvested in 2012. Enjoy reading it again and stay tuned for next week when I’m going to steep up a pot and review it again.

Hello again, my dear tea friends! I’m happy to be back to share another cup of tea with all of you. This morning I’m enjoying another first flush Darjeeling, this selection from the Glenburn estate. So far, 5 first flushes have arrived and I have to say that this one is my favorite so far. The leaf is from the first plucking of the season and, as you can see from my photo, it’s filled with the silvery white tips of the tea bush. So new, so tender.

The leaf shows off its gorgeous green color as it steeps. I steeped for 3 minutes in just under boiling point water, around 200 degrees F. Remember that this is not a green tea but has been oxidized and processed as a black tea.

My online tea friend, Steph, had the opportunity to visit the Glenburn tea estate during a trip to India last year. She shares her wonderful adventure on her blog, Steph’s Cup of Tea, here. To visit a tea estate in Darjeeling would definitely be a dream come true for me. Someday…

Ok, back to the tea. The tea liquor steeped up to such a pale, delicate golden color. A sweet aroma of flowers wafted up from my glass teapot as I gently removed the infuser basket.

While I do love notes of tropical fruit and banana in a first flush tea, my first love has always been the floral notes. This tea is a perfect example of that – in the aroma and pronounced in the flavor. The liquor is so smooth that you could probably experiment with pushing the steeping time a little bit. If you do, please let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful week filled with many delicious cups of tea!

“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.”

~Iris Murdoch, Writer

Saturday Morning Tea

Mar16

Good morning, dear tea friends! Today I’m conducting an experiment, which I hope to continue over the course of the next several months. In my cup this morning is a 2-year-old first flush Darjeeling from the Thurbo Estate. Yes, that’s right. It was harvested in the spring of 2011.

The 2013 first flushes haven’t arrived yet and it sounds like they had a drought, which has resulted in the season getting started later. Samples so far of those teas harvested have been green and not very flavorful. Ok, let’s get started.

Interestingly enough, I reviewed this very tea on April 23, 2011 here. Wonderful! Let’s compare. Back then, I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes. Today I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. I love the amazing variegation of leaf size and color of this tea!

I didn’t have my micro lens back then so now I can get closer to see the different leaf sizes. Look at the fine hairs on the tiny leaf.

Back in 2011, I found this tea to be very fragrant with an aroma of celery. Today, I found the tea to be still quite fragrant, however, I didn’t detect any celery aroma. The tea smelled quite green (vegetal) with a floral nuance.

The tea liquor is still a light caramel color with a very smooth, light flavor and notes of tropical fruit, like an unripe banana. I often find this flavor note in first flush teas.

It is obvious to me that this tea has been stored very well and it’s still quite flavorful. The main difference I detected was in the astringency factor. I was able to steep the leaves for a minute longer without it developing that characteristic “bite” so it appears to have mellowed out, a positive thing for me.

This is a perfect example of how you can take the same tea and need to adjust the steeping time as the tea ages. This tea has satisfied this first flush lover!

Stay tuned for more experimentation and, hopefully, a review of a 2013 first flush by April! Have a great week!

“There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless.” ~Milan Kundera

Saturday Morning Tea

Feb2

Good morning, dear tea friends! As I gaze out my window at the puffs of clouds floating across the cold, blue sky, I’m enjoying a very special tea called Sunrise.

From the 1,662 acre Steinthal Estate, located in the Darjeeling district in northeast India, the leaves were plucked at sunrise during the second flush season. I have been told that the dew that collects on the leaves overnight delays the photosynthesis process. This delay causes maximum flavor retention in the leaves so plucking in the early morning hours is desirable for optimum flavor.

Sunrise is such a hushed, magical time when the world still sleeps and beautiful colors bloom across the sky. During the week, I rise at 5:30am so I’m able to see the sunrise most mornings. The beauty of nature is truly awe-inspiring.

I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. The aroma was quite fruity as I lifted the infuser from my glass teapot.

I have read that the Steinthal Estate is actually called the Singtom-Steinthal Estate. The word Steinthal comes from the German Jesuit missionaries that developed different areas of the tea garden.

This special Sunrise tea was handcrafted in honor of the 160th Jubilee celebration of the tea estate.

The color of the tea liquor reminds me of the blazing dark-orange that lights up the sky at sunrise. If there are clouds in the eastern sky right before the sun peeks over the horizon, it looks like their undersides have been stroked with a paintbrush.

The flavor is quite fruity, with a dominant note of fresh apricots. The rich body is silky smooth. If you prefer your Darjeeling to be on the astringent side, I recommend pushing the steeping time a little.

I had some fun taking photos as I poured the tea! Now the tea is all gone and I’m craving another cup…

On the studio side of things, I’ve created some polymer clay sheets with the technique I spoke about previously and now it’s time to play around with cutting some shapes for my beadwork. While I love my job, sometimes it’s frustrating having to wait for an afternoon of free time to play in my studio. Does anyone else have that experience?

As always, thanks for stopping by and sharing my tea time!

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

~Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul