Puttabong, Darjeeling First Flush 2014. - Organic - Fair Trade
55
Percentile
3 ratings |
|
Commercial Description
A delicate floral first flush with layers of complex and exquisite notes. This tea proclaims the arrival of spring!
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 3 reviews
80 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Tuirgin (9 reviews) on Oct. 2nd, 2014
This tea brewed an amber colored liquor and immediately gave off a strong punch of apricots, trailed by a musky honey scent. The first taste—still too hot—yielded an indistinct malt-floral taste. Later after allowing to cool further, the liquor still seemed mild and subdued, and so with a third sip, I vigorously aerated it in my mouth and was hit with a powerful sense of syrupy ripe fruit and sweetened flowers, which, after swallowing, gave way to a dry, slightly sour tang. It, too, was pleasant.
The tea seems to do best at room temperature. At the tail end of my cup, after it had gone completely cold, the aroma seemed more developed and open, and all the different things I had tasted had finally married into a balanced harmony.
Between this and the Singbulli First Flush I tasted last night, the Puttabong definitely comes in second. But these two teas are far and away superior to most of my previous experiences with tea.
78 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5Brytta Sóþword (333 reviews) on Sep. 17th, 2014
Despite leaving the leaves to brew a little longer than I originally intended (meant to brew for 3 minutes, but ended up closer to 5), this is a very smooth tea. I brewed it at 180 °F. This would make a very good general purpose, share it with friends sort of tea. There's no bitterness, I like the almost-floral aroma, and the first cup was decently substantial in flavor--neither overwhelming nor watery.
The second cup was a little weaker in flavor, but still pleasant. Someone brought sweets to work today and I had this cup with those. They went nicely well together. I agree with Alex about drinking this one slowly and about the fact that it retains pleasurable flavor as it cools. This makes it easier drinking at a more relaxed pace than some teas.
I got a third cup out of this tea and it was very good -- despite the fact that I seem to be in the habit lately of accidentally oversteeping my drinks. Very impressed with the ability of this tea to maintain quality in subsequent cups.
On the website the tea is quite pricey. It would certainly be worth an occasional splurge, though, especially considering it's very possible to get multiple cups out of it.
83 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Alex Zorach (1448 reviews) on May. 30th, 2014
Last year's (2013) Puttabong was my favorite of the first flush teas, but this year I don't think it held that spot (this year, that would be Risheehat).
This batch was slightly peculiar, and I found a little tricky to brew to satisfaction. I found it worked best when brewed with lower temperature water, and then when drunk at room temperature and sipped slowly. I'd like to try cold-brewing this for iced tea because I have an intuition it would work well.
The dry leaf has an aroma suggestive of cake or sweet baked goods, perhaps with some nutty qualities; it lacks the explosive floral aroma that most of the other first flush samples this year have shown.
Upon brewing, some even stranger aromas come out...suggestive of tomato and ground beef. But the honey and floral tones are there, and upon drinking, this tea tastes a lot more like a typical first flush. This tea seemed to infuse fast, and I used less leaf than some of the other samples.
I find this tea tastes much better when sipped very slowly. This allows the floral aroma to develop. Somewhat bitter, but I find the bitterness very pleasing.
When hot, this tea has a muted astringency that I can only describe as tasting "gray". I didn't like this. But I found that if I let the tea cool and sipped it slowly, it tasted floral and nutty and I liked that a lot.
Still an excellent tea, I just think I preferred the other samples this year, as well as last year's batch of this one. This year's batch was a bit finicky.
I did find though that this tea resteeped very well, better than most of the other samples.
Page 1 of 1 page with 3 reviews
More Darjeeling First Flush from Darjeeling, India from Happy Earth Tea
Singbulli, Darjeeling Black Tea, First Flush 2014
| Style: | Darjeeling First Flush |
| Region: | Darjeeling, India |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Risheehat, Darjeeling Black Tea, First Flush 2014
| Style: | Darjeeling First Flush |
| Region: | Darjeeling, India |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Arya Ruby, Darjeeling First Flush 2014
| Style: | Darjeeling First Flush |
| Region: | Darjeeling, India |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
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Arya Black (Organic Darjeeling, First Flush 2013)
| Style: | Darjeeling First Flush |
| Region: | Darjeeling, India |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
1 Rating
