January 24, 2010 has really been a remarkable day for me that’s why I have to share this with you.
My association with tea is always material because it is my bread and butter. Marketing, writing, promotions and trying to prove myself seemed so small from what Tea gave me this day. I received two great ‘Darshans’.
Yes, Jason you are right on ‘Spirituality of TEA’.  Tea brings you closer to Grace.
Mr.Nielsson, an elderly man, a retired professor of Chemistry from Copenhagen visited our Shangrila tea room, in Goa. He has been drinking and enjoying tea for more than 50 years.
While we were brewing and tasting he became ‘very very’ emotional about a particular variety. The Margarets Hope Muscatel variety. He revealed that he had tasted such quality after a long time and his emotions really touched our soul.
This was just another sale for me but later when I put myself on his boots I found out how important this experience was for him. Mr.Nielsson had blessed us which we realized only after he left.

This blessing came in disguise and almost instantly after a few hours. Swamijee Rajneesh parked a huge car in front of our parking lot and headed straight to our shop to buy some gifts for a friend who was leaving for South Korea.

This was a real…. blessing. Swamijee also blessed us. He filled our small store with grace.
My wife and I were immensely touched by Mr.Nielsson. With utmost regards to him, we are not posting any of his photographs to respect and honor his privacy.
Many Thanks, Mr.Nielsson. With all due respect, I know you will be back in Copenhagen few days from now. This post is dedicated to you.

I have slurped tea since I was quite young to actually enjoy drinking it. But now I like it because I enjoy it more.

I am still making a career with tea while also indulging in producing and tasting teas, learning the fundamentals and later the components of each tea that I get a chance to work with. This has really helped me build up experience and expand my knowledge, both that I lacked earlier. I am saying this because a White Tea review requires a certain degree of expertise and a tuned palate to really appreciate it.
I have heard good tasters from good tea brokerage houses from our tea growing world label white teas as ‘pale’ or ‘plain’, technically. Generally, I agree with them because tasting 150-200 set of cups in a hour or more and archiving records after the job makes their palate go bizarre. But when they represent a J-Thomas or a Carritt Moran, we’ve got to take their word for it.

The moments that make me garner my strength to learn more about this variety of tea is when I hear my customers (mostly ladies to whom I try to serve with my own hands) say uhhm… after their first sip.

White teas are synonymously referred to be a Chinese variety and to categorically genderize it, if Bai Hao Yin-zhen is the King of White teas then it will be fair to proclaim this Phoobsering Darjeeling Silver Needles to be the Queen.
When white teas were in a mere conceptual stage in Darjeeling, I was probably a trainee then in a remote plantation. I admit that the coming of White teas in Darjeeling is fairly recent, but as anticipated, it came up with a unique character of its own.
Most Darjeeling White teas are: air dried, for few hours with cold and then gradually with warmer and hot air. Minimal alteration of the process and choosing the right material is the secret and the reason that elevates it to the grade of a herb more than a tea to the health conscious. See my ezine publication for health benefits of Darjeeling White Tea.

Now, let me introduce you to the Phoobsering Silver Needle White, a tea that represents the greatest and truest expression of the terrier: a profound and sublime confluence of wonderful raw materials and inherently brilliant tea making skills and correct timing. It is a limited produce and made only from the harvest of delicate buds. This clonal variety, namely T-78, is a China hybrid and cultivated extensively in this garden, with the T standing for Tukdah.
These pickings come from an altitude of about 6500 feet above sea level from the upper Lebong Valley where it touches the sky. Phoobsering is a top quality garden that contributes a little over 100 tonnes of Darjeeling Tea per year, located about a thirty-minute drive from Darjeeling town. It was one of the first gardens in Darjeeling to get HACCP and ISO certifications. Its quality is unique with a distinct character of its own.

Description:

Make: Handpicked shiny large needle appearing like bold unopened buds.

Feel: Silky and delicate. Hold it and it gently pricks, thus the name Silver Needles.

Dry Aroma: Slightly vegetal and sweet weed. After a sniff I would want to place some in my mouth straight.

Generally with White Tea I use abundant leaves. My guywan is already more than half filled. My pot of hot water is set aside to cool for a few minutes as I am going to steep it only after the temperature reaches 80-85 C and rather do short and multiple steeping of less than 1 minute.

Steep 1: 1 minute
The color of the liquor of this white tea is pale gold but very clean. The flavor profile has a hint of crisp and vibrant vegetal freshness that lingers in the mouth. The buds are still floating on the surface of the water level. I would steep n steep till these little needles really settle down.

Steep2: 1 minute
A sweet floral aftertaste with a gentle finish is the prominent Darjeeling character that this white tea carries with it. That is why this Phoobsering Silver Needle is so magical and unique.

Teadesigner

Launch of FreshDarjeelingtea-online store and Thanks Giving.

More than a blog this is a letter of thanks and a dedication to all the people who have been an inspiration and somehow made me feel good about whatever I am doing online besides what I do normally with my business.

I never knew or had the slightest notion that social media networks would bring us so close that we can now share, exchange, promote ideas and put across views to people living in far off continents, share the same passion and above all, be recognized.

I was born in a small tea village in Namring and lived a blissful childhood in a serene place, Sikkim, and then, pursuing a career in tea, nothing was thought about or organized – it all happened like a rolling stone. I still feel like a child sometimes and compare myself with my 13-year-old daughter, but time flies away so fast as you must know my friends. I am writing this because now I have the opportunity to thank you on two counts, firstly, it is Thanks-giving times and secondly, to thank you for your compliments on the launch of our online store.

I started this blog from 25 March 2009. Before that I didn’t know what a blog was, and to be very honest, till very recently, I had no inkling that promotion was even possible through a blog. I just started with the intention of sharing my thoughts with the few people whom I thought knew something about Darjeeling Tea.

To begin with, I would like to thank Stephen, author of ‘Beating Cholesterol’, who hopped into my store in Goa and said, “Sonam, you need to start writing, so, where is your online presence?” Then my beautiful customers, mostly ladies, who savor my white teas always questioning me, “Sonam, can I buy online after I return home?” To my Russian friend Alex who took the pain to cover and feature me on a Russian Daily newspaper.

To my Darjeeling Tea planter friends and tea masters or ‘bros’, in our local lingo. Thanks to people in the Nepal Tea industry namely, Suraj Vaidya and Ram Limboo of Guranse Tea, Dilli Baskota CEO of Himalayan Tea Producers Association, Sumyash Agrawal of Accord International. My child hood friend Sonam Goperma.

Then Steven Knoerr of 39steeps whom I met on Facebook, who wrote me a letter (so long that it took me months to organize) which became an inspiration, and I am still religiously following his suggestions. Our Facebook fans Twitter followers. Nancy Overbury who always Retweets my blog posts. Forgive my omissions, if any – I hope I have covered all.

I admit I am not very tech-savy, but Kriszha, my consultant in Internet Marketing and my developer, made my foray into the Internet marketing bandwagon a smooth one. I appreciate him for bearing with me.

To associates of Kriszha, David Hudson from Indonesia, OS Commerce coder, Antonius Madhya from Indonesia, Wordpress coder for the Blog, Le Manh Cuong from Vietnam, Agustín Garassino from Argentina, Wordpress coder for freshdarjeelingtea-online store and an avid tea drinker himself.
To my Grandfather, now 87 years of age and residing in Tukdah-Darjeeling, Mr.Harish Mukhia now 76, Mr. BrijMohan of Tea promoters India all pioneering Darjeeling Tea planters and my GURUS.
I will risk heartaches by not mentioning my daughter Rowena who patiently waits for me for dinner and my wife who never makes me feel that I exist single and my late mother who did not survive cancer.
Sincere Thanks to God and thanks to everyone once again.

The aromas and fury of a Darjeeling muscatel is tried and tested. It is the muscatels’ that has given Darjeeling its identity. We believe that any tea lover or a novice who comes across a True Darjeeling Muscatel will never forget the experience.
It is quite rare to come across a true muscatel because this tea is borne out of a balance of many factors involved in the making. The seasons, the harmony of time of pickings and the art of processing,  e.t.c.
It is a matter of pride for Tea masters from Darjeeling to mark their small invoices with this term because they know it is occasional. Only few invoices are marked so. All muscatels fetch a four figure digit prices even in the auctions.
Most muscatels are pre sold on prior arrangements with high end paymasters like Harrods.
It is not necessary that muscatels are produced only in the second flush or summer season but it is more pronounced then.
During this time of the year every garden in Darjeeling tries hard to make muscatels but few succeed.
The Gardens those are renowned for producing and exhibiting muscatels every year are Castleton, Margarets Hope, Balasun, Selimbong, Sungma, Jungpana, Makaibari, Ambootia.

My first experience with a muscatel was about 10 years ago during my first few months at work.I was asked by my employers (Tea Promoters India) to escort few guests from Makaibari to Selimbong.
Mr.Banerjee was quite not over discussing with the guests he invited me for a Darjeeling cuppa in his palatial living room.The guests were a third party evaluation team from Mercy Corps, Portland- on behalf of Tazo-an evaluation on Ethical Tea Partnership with associate partners in India.
Although I was not participating in the discussion but could make out the heat was on high notes.
Mean while, Mrs.Banerjee offered if we would like a round of tea. As a young enthusiast, tea with the legendary Rajah and his wife was a matter of chance.
Mr.Banerjee knew instantly from the glow in my eyes and ordered that the muscatel reserve which he specially makes for his Japanese client, to the bearer standing in the living room.
I had taken tasting lessons in Tea Research Association Clonal Proving Station (CPS) at Ging Tea Estate before I joined the industry, by then I could unmistakably distinguish clonal characters and had even tasted muscatels from other gardens.
But this was an experience that I will never forget. We did not taste or compare any tea; it was just a small shower of hospitality at Makaibari. As the bearer drew the tea cozy upward the aromas that coiled up along with the steam oozing out of the pot was filling the room with sweet grape like fragrance and it grew more persistent as tea was poured in our cups.
The cups were handed one at a time to each of us. Our eyes were fixed in the cups out of curiosity. The aromas were so overwhelming that I cleverly waited for my cup to cool for a while and then the wait was worth while. I tasted my first true muscatel. Layers of flavors embedded in synchronized harmony leaving a long finish in the mouth.
On our way back I wanted to think more about the making of this tea but the guests were throwing so many questions I hardly had time to think.
So even today whenever I have to think about defining a muscatel or selecting one-my parameters is pre-conceived.

This is a selection from the Gardens of Margarets’ Hope and pickings of the high grown maharani hills at altitudes of 6000 feet above sea level. This picking of pure china seed bushes is an exotic delivery. Harvested on October 14/2009 an autumn pick and manufactured and packed on the ides of October.

Make: The leaf is well twisted and consists of small bits and pieces of torn leaves and small twigs that we often come across an autumn harvest.

Visual: Dark leaves with red and golden textures which show it has undergone high degree of oxidation.

Feel: The feel of the leaves are dry crispy.

Dry Aroma: The dry leaves aroma is just alluring like fresh dry rose petals and nuts.

Good tea is a matter of Taste, so I start off with the preparation with two table spoons full of leaves in my guywan. My water is boiled and kept aside to cool, so that I can use it only after it cools down to just below boiling lets say 90-95 C.

Steep-1:  2 minutes
Full bodied liquor that shines like the sun, with a clear golden halo around it. Oops! The muscatel kick!
This tea delivers a subtle clean yet warm muscatel flavor with nutty undertone. It flaunts the sweetness of honey, dates and slopes towards almond. Multifaceted layers of flavor yet not aggressive. The wet leaf infusion has not really opened up so will go for a second steep.

Steep-2: 2 minutes
The liquor is lighter compared to the first cup, and the robustness lingering around. This second cup is delicate and emits a different character all totally; it is sweeter but now sloping towards more floral flavor and aroma. This type of Darjeeling makes you think of all it has done, for it is the muscatel that has made Darjeeling following an obsession for tea lovers.

All Hail Darjeeling Muscatel!!!

Darjeeling is so synonymous with black tea but our purpose is to share and educate our followers and readers about exotic Darjeeling’s. We would like to introduce you to a green tea variety that I found to be most exotic of all Darjeeling’s.

This tea is called “Emerald Green” because of the prominent deep green color it carries all through the steeps. This is a picking from a small family owned garden called” Gopaldhara”. Gopaldhara is tucked high up as 2121 meters above sea level in the Mirik valley of Darjeeling District. An estate that comprises of 172 hectares of gentle hills planted with tea. Among this plantation a small section of the garden about 8 hectares have been occupied by plants imported from Japan. ( 12000 nos tea bushes are planted in one hectare) It usually takes 8-12 years of grooming for a young tea plant to yield a standard harvest, in Darjeeling climatic conditions.

The producer, Mr. Saria claims that the origin of this plant variety is of very high quality Japanese seed culture and I do completely agree with him after tasting the leaves. The hard work Mr.Saria has put into to produce such a small quantity of tea is just amazing. Mr.Saria is one of the pioneer tea planters as well as a respected tea master of Darjeeling and his teas deliver and share with us more than 50 years of enduring experience in Darjeeling.

Emerald is a rare picking because these tea bushes flush or regenerate, periodically in a year. I picked the teas that came off an October first week flush, so in Darjeeling terms lets call it an autumnal green Darjeeling tea.

Dry leaves:

Make: The leaf is bold and flaunts that it is gently hand rolled. This is possible with emerald because it comes in small quantities.

Visual: Dark green chunky leaves with a mix of slight light green textures here and there.

Feel: The feel of the leaves are delicately crispy and if you apply some force to hold them the leaves may crack to bits and pieces.

Dry Aroma: I have this tendency to rub the dry leaves and consume the smell before I taste any tea. The smell is savory salty with a hint of lime.

Quite perplexed with the dry leaf smell, I start off with the preparation with two table spoons full of leaves in my guywan. Two table spoons full is a lot of leaves and nearly a quarter of my guywan is full. My water is boiled and kept aside to cool, so that I can use it only after it cools down to 70-80 C.

Steep 1 for 1 minute: The leaves have not fully unfurled but the liquor that steeps out is clear light green. The taste is light salty sea weed, vegetal like broccoli and has leaves a sweet hay like aftertaste. I must say that teas often carry qualities of their origin. I can relate a good Japanese gyokuro with this first cup.

Steep 2 for 1 minute: The leaves have unfurled into dark green whole leaves accompanied by green buds. The taste is mellower but now the sweet notes more prominent towards a citrus finish. Amazingly now the environment has taken its toll into the making of this tea. The cup is mellower and I can feel Darjeeling in my olfactory.

Most Darjeeling greens acquire a dry finish but emerald is a comfortable and smooth cup, enjoying this tea makes me wonder about this fusion. Japanese plants in Darjeeling? I wonder how and what made Mr.Saria to go to this length of importing Japanese tea plants all the way to Darjeeling to make few Kilograms of Emerald. As there are already many tea gardens selling green tea in the name of emerald. But it was worth the effort! My only suggestion to Mr.Saria is to give it another name…uh……like…..????

Still guessing!

In my opinion, fair trade is a cleverly crafted marketing ploy designed to monopolize certain commodities and markets.  Fair trade items makes more profits and have better margins. Darjeeling Tea is no exception. The fair-trade markets opened up for Darjeeling Tea since the beginning of the millennium.

There are many fair-trade organizations selling Darjeeling Tea like Twin trading USA, Equal Exchange Trading, Clipper teas, Choice organic teas, Oxfam, Alter Eco, Artisans du monde etc.
But, I must say that the workers of Darjeeling Tea estates using fair-trade labels deserve more.
I am not trying to make a point that the fair trading partners from Darjeeling and their counter parts from the developed countries are exploiting the workers (as they are exploited anyways), but needed to inform my readers about the level of transparency of the beautifully drawn agendas of fair-trade like payment of a fair price, safe and healthy working environment for workers and gender equity.
Most importantly lets’ discuss on-“Fair Price”. Forget the workers representatives or managing committee that most fair trade tea estates claim to have. Even the manager who manages and control the day to day financial activities of the estate wouldn’t have the faintest idea of the selling prices.  Fair trade teas are never auctioned. Prices are determined discretely in the closed walls of overseas offices or Kolkata. Fair trade tea is mostly exported on the basis of a “private contracts” which is very confidential. The third party who generally audit and inspect the FLO standards and activities also does not bother to worry about the selling prices for reasons unknown. How can an audit be possible without knowing the revenue?
A small chunk of fair-trade money is always kept aside (at site in the local bank) for the managing committee to brawl about the new projects and schemes that they would be implementing in the estates. For information this money is the general premium money which is accumulated by fair trading partners by exhibiting the poverty and the conditions of the workers in the estate.
Safe and healthy working environment- Tea is an agricultural as well as industrial food commodity, which requires 90% manual labour. Government labour commission is there to take care of this matter, except that most of the inspectors who visit the estates on behalf of the government are well rewarded for their visits and taken well care of by respective companies who run the estates.
Most corporate houses like Goodricke group, Williamson Maygors, Duncans e.t.c have maintained the norms laid down by the government of India, and I feel our government has done a good job, it is up to the organization whether to respect or disrespect the norms laid down.
About other matters like Safe Drinking water, Health and Electricity (Power) the lack of liaison between government bodies and the management of the tea estates is the main cause. Today, Government of India and our state government respectively have enough funds to provide basic essentials.

Last of all, the terrier of this region makes life quite hard. If men chop wood women carry water-the local people (esp.Nepalese) are very liberal. Most of the women have been bread winners of the family since eons so I don’t think there is much scope of work in relation to gender equity.
Any ways the cause is noble! Hats off to the marketers and Fair trade labeling organization.

Model backs green tea and lemon claim, lessens need to test animals

Cheerful women carrying long jute woven straps across their forehead laden in a colorful cloth with a bamboo basket ‘doko’ hanging down their back, an umbrella and lunch box tugged in- is the typical tea picker of Darjeeling.

Six days a week, at the same time (usually 7a.m), the pickers gather at a location prescribed by the manager to the ‘kamdari’ the supervisor. The section of the plantation to be picked on that day. The pickers are divided into decks which usually hold 35-50 pickers and supervising staff of two or three.

It is not the manager but the kamdaris’ that the tea pickers have to follow and please. Some share their lunch and some bestow him with gifts from the small livestock they keep, mostly poultry. This ritual of keeping the supervisor happy is  for the daily roll call he makes at the start of the day and the kind of ‘melo’ row of tea bushes he assigns the picker. Tea plantations in Darjeeling being planted in rows and columns has to be picked according to a prior estimate. The supervisor needs to have the special know how on what the bushes can deliver from a particular section or season. Sometimes, he also has to decide on the spot how the picking should be carried out (hard or liberal), as to the demand of his next assignment.

The process of harvesting is quite a job, the pickers slip their fingers under the new growth, twist and break the two leaves and a bud, and throw it into the basket on their back — and immediately reach out for the next bud.

The connections between the terrain, the pickers and leaves are almost intense when a full fledged harvesting war is wedged. In these silent environments the breaking of leaves in clicks n clacks can be heard and behind the smell of sweet vegetal aroma of the leaves lingers.

It is an articulate job as the pickers have to choose the right type of leaves to harvest and leave behind the new unfolding ones for the next round and sometimes even discard the overgrown ones. An experienced picker gracefully picks the right quality of leaves and their speed is well developed. To produce one kilogram of fine tea a picker needs to hand pick approximately 160000 shoots or 4 (four) kilograms of fresh green leaves. The picking average of a tea picker whole year round is also approximately 4 kilograms in Darjeeling district. Generally a good picker has an average of 6-8 kilograms of fresh green leaves.

During some adventures of listening to the pickers I’ve heard them softly speak of their children and daily chores at home. They also enjoy speaking about fellow pickers’ husbands who occasionally get drunk and the way he’d behave, to share a laugh. In the contrary they merrily and easily carry out this arduous job.

The pickers are given a task each day. This task is set by the joint efforts of local picker representative, supervisors and the managers and they are awarded a bonus if they exceed it – This bonus usually comes in terms of cash and called ELP-extra leaf price. The experienced ones always strive to earn this. The worn skins on the fingers of the pickers can speak of the tasks if they are at all fair.

Three or four times a day they take their basket to a weighing shed which is called the ‘taulai ghar’ where the leaves are looked at for quality (poorly harvested leaves are not accepted), weighed and recorded. After the weighing is over during noon the pickers congregate together for lunch. These weighing sheds also act as a crèche. The day in the field ends with the final weighing and then it is off to home.

At home again the tea picker metamorphoses to a home maker. They clean and cook for the family and prepare for another day. This is the journey of a picker’s life at a tea plantation in Darjeeling.

Life hasn’t changed for a more than a century in a plantation where the world famous Darjeeling tea is grown, except for the coming of mass media like television and radio. On holidays and evenings the tea pickers and their family enjoys the popular regional soaps and news, even if they have to folk to their neighbors. This has by large influenced the lives and inspirations of the younger people in the rural areas where these plantations lie. The educated few have already migrated for greener pastures outside the borders of the plantations.

A day might come when the cheerful pickers will decline in number because of the prevalent feudalistic management structure and the neglected policies of the government, in terms of education, land distribution, food distribution, primary health and other administrative rights which lie in the hands of the management who govern the local community with absolute impunity and is driven by top line sale and bottom line returns.

Surviving the penury, the humble picker still smiles. The pickers resiliently send their siblings to nearby towns for education. The glimpse of hope lies in the minds

of the present day picker who hold the future of our beloved Darjeeling Tea.

This weekend I made a trip to a village called Dabaipani (Mineral Springs). It is 30 minutes drive from Darjeeling town, but I had to spend few days there to find what I was looking for.

This village consists of 14 hamlets widely spread across 1200 acres of hills. They are a part of the erstwhile Harrison’s and Mineral Springs Tea Estate, which closed down sometime in 1950.

Post 1950 the people survived selling: tea leaves to neighboring gardens, firewood, timber and charcoal from the garden reserve forest, which comprised about 600 acres of land. Post 1960 with the hope of the garden opening receding and the reserve forest depleting rapidly, the people started grabbing the land and started cultivating traditional food grains. The land grabbing was based on might so the people own anything from ½ acre to 12 acres of land.

The villages later organized themselves into Sanjukta Vikas Co-Operative (United Development Co-operative) with the intervention of a local NGO, DLR Prerna, The SVC has a two tier elected governance system with nominated members from the women’s self help groups in the Board.

Tea bushes had been retained partially when the people converted to traditional agriculture. A tie up between SVC and Tea Promoters India (TPI), a corporate body was facilitated by DLR Prerna. In this tie up, TPI manufactures and markets SVC tea in the international market, as an exclusive, small farmer co-operative, certified organic fair trade labeled tea. The tea is sold internationally as Mineral Springs Small Farmers Tea.

In 2001, SVC was granted producer organic certificate under ECC 2092/91(EU Standards), Naturland (German), Bio-Suisse (Swiss) and National Organic Program (USA). SVC is also certified under National Program for Organic Production (India).

Above all, the small tea farmers of Mineral springs have evolved the art of making exceptional standard hand made teas in their farms. It was arduous to visit every house hold in this region therefore this time I focused my trail in one of the hamlets which comprises of thirty homesteads. For this kind of a treasure hunt I will have to make several trips to these villages to find the best pickings.

This time I started very early in the morning so that I could meet the farmers before they could go off to their fields for the daily farm routines. Every house I visited offered me a great cup of tea. They have a certain pride in offering the teas and it is customary discipline to honor a guest this way. So by late evening I had sampled most of the farms, in the hamlet. It was difficult but the one that drew my interest was made by a farmer named Thuley Tamang.

The tea Thuley offered me is a rare treasure. Organic Hand made small farmer Oolong, I am going to name this tea as “Mango Tree Oolong”, because the hamlet it originates from is called “Aap Botay” which is a nepali derivative for a Mango Tree. The dry leaves are chunky and acquire a purple bloom. The aroma of the dry leaves is flowery with a woody undertone.

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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”.

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