The idea of brewing a Darjeeling Oolong Gong Fu style had occurred to me in my tea adventures in China, but I had to find the right tea for this .

This week I did find one!The Eagles Cliff Oolong is what i am going to name it. It is a wonderful experience for a Darjeeling Oolong lover like me. Multiple steeping of a first flush Oolong in a “Guy wan” (In Darjeeling the Tibetans call it “Thakye”).

I selected this beautiful hand crafted small estate tea from Giddapahar (Eagles Cliff) and I think it rivals those from the highly acclaimed Oolongs of China and Taiwan.

Appearance: Colorful, roundish, brittle and rock like dry leaves, this first flush appears to me like a smaller version of a Taiwanese brother, Oolong.

Because of the unusual leaf appearance, I thought of doing a photo illustrated blog.

For the dedicated Darjeeling lover this tea is a rarity.

About the Estate:

‘Giddapahar’ or ‘Eagles Cliff’ is a small family run tea garden situated in the Kurseong valley of Darjeeling district. Plantations with massive stone outcroppings stretching from altitudes of 3000 to 6500 ft above sea level, produces one of the finest teas in the world.

I started with my favorite gong-fu tea set, water and this Eagles Cliff Oolong. Then, religiously made a quick rinse to preheat the guy wan and awaken the leaves with little warm water.

I decide to brew the first one for two minutes and the outcome was pale golden yellow liquor with high floral notes. The amazing thing about this tea is it is very mellow and does not resemble the astringency or bite of a first flush Darjeeling.

The second cup added a little color and revealed a sweet floral aftertaste. This I brewed for 2 (two minutes) minutes.

The third cup looked a slight coloury compared to the usual first flush teas but revealed an amazing taste-a prominent touch of ripe plum and this I brewed for 3 minutes.

This oolong offers a subtle layer of complexities, cup after cup.

The fourth and the fifth cup finished with underlining nutty notes.

Overall profile:

A lovely bouquet of rich and colourful (green and brown) semi fermented full leaves that brew multiple infusions of gentle and seductive cups with absolutely no sharpness of the typical Darjeeling First Flush Tea. The rare “Eagles Cliff Oolong”.