My first Darjeeling, and quite good! I can't detect much (if any) of the bitterness I associate with black teas. It tastes like a *good quality* version of the tea used for sweet iced tea (and unsweetened tea) in the southern U.S. If I wanted to serve tea at a summer social gathering, I could imagine brewing up a strong batch of this tea, blending some sugar, and then icing it. I think it would impress people used to that traditional southern fare.

Though I personally enjoy fruit teas, flavored rooibos, and certain green teas a bit more, this certainly has a clean, familiar flavor that I think many would enjoy.

Initially I thought I detected a little spiciness that created a pleasant complexity, but I was eating spicy food with it so I can't say for sure that it was the tea. Regardless, it goes very nicely with food.

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Comments:

Alex Zorach wrote: on August 8th, 2014

I'm really glad you liked this one. I was reading your reviews to get a sense of what you'd like, and I tried to challenge myself to throw a few pure (unflavored) black teas in the mix that I thought you'd be likely to enjoy, and this was one of them.

A lot of Darjeelings, especially high-quality ones, are less bitter than black teas, and also lighter in character overall. The first flush Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea is even lighter and more like green tea than this one.

This particular tea is also from my favorite tea garden, Makaibari estate. I just really like everything I've tried to come out of this garden. They are also a leader in sustainable permaculture which is something I think is cool.

I also have found Darjeeling teas are likely to pair well with spicy food. I've even found some teas that I tend to not like drinking on their own as much, but that really seem to come alive if I pair them with spicy foods.

Brytta Sóþword wrote: on August 8th, 2014

In that case, well done! I found this one quite interesting and am looking forward to trying it different ways. :-)

That's awesome to know about the Makaibari estate. Sustainable permaculture and generally ethical/environmental production is something I appreciate being involved in more and more of tea production. I wish people paid more attention to those issues in everything they bought.

Thanks again for the tea!

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