Parched Tea Company

I keep trying to find a darjeeling I think might be a suitable replacement for the Good Darjeeling I left at home. That tea was perfect. So when I found a darjeeling at that table at the market, I figured three quid was worth giving it a go.

I’m getting, at first I thought it was smoke, but more like – grass, trees? Dirt? Yeah, a bit of dirt. Not in a bad way, though; rather, it’s a clean sort of earth, if that makes sense at all. The darjeeling muscat comes in toward the end, but tiptoes in quite quietly instead of marching in and shouting I AM DARJEELING, and I’m getting a touch of astringency. Maybe I should have given it a minute less.

Actually, it’s better now that it’s not piping hot. I’m getting more of the sweet raisiny note in the aftertaste and the clean earth flavour is less prominent. I think this is one to neglect on the kitchen counter for 15 minutes after taking the leaves out, THEN drink. Oh, now it’s yummy. I’ll still experiment with brewing time a bit, just to see if I can get the very most out of it.

And now it’s cold, and it’s really good cold! Not iced, not cold brewed, just that sort of lazy I-forgot-I-was-drinking-tea-and-I’m-in-a-drafty-room cold. Even better than warmish.

It’s still not my Good Darjeeling, but I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing ever will be.

My relationship to chocolate teas is kind of funny.

Like, most of the ones I’ve had are nice, but more than any other teas, I feel like they’re the ones that genuinely need milk and sugar in order not to just taste thin and bitter to me. And if I want full-on chocolate flavour, I’m likely to just reach for a tin of hot chocolate, which is always going to feel richer and more decadent than a chocolate-flavoured tea. That being said, chocolate tea has its place and I do quite like them.

And this is a good example of what a chocolate tea should be. I don’t really get a white chocolate flavour specifically (though there are white chocolate chips in the mix along with the tea leaves and some marigold petals) but once I added a good slug of milk, there was a definite creamy mouthfeel that could be attributed to the white chocolateness of it, and that gave it a nice finish. I do tend to find that chocolate is one of those flavours in tea that seems to work best for me in conjunction with certain other flavours, so don’t be surprised if future tasting notes of this one see me mixing it with peppermint or cinnamon or strawberry. I think it’s a tea that will work really well in that way.

What a delightful day. Went to our favourite market in Altrincham and found loads of lovely things. Met a lady who was spinning wool and it turns out she’s originally from Toronto! Yay, Canada!

Oh yeah, and there was tea. I couldn’t possibly pass a table full of tea without investing in something or some things. I don’t normally go for rooibos as a first choice, but a) this smelled lovely; and b) my friend absolutely HATES black tea, like just can’t abide the taste of it at all, but reckoned that this smelled lovely too. So I decided I had to at least get it for her, brew us up a cuppa, and see if it was a tea she could enjoy.

And she did! It’s got a good, well-established caramel flavour that works well with the rooibos and a nice smooth, sweet texture. I took mine with a dash of milk, she took hers without, both were scrummy. So I sent her home with half the bag, and I hope she enjoys it! Yay, I found a way to share the love of tea!