Darjeeling Puttabong Summer

I’ve had quite a long coffee and wine-filled break from Steepster, but I’ve finished off my sample of this in two pots this morning. Welcome back, tea.

Having this a year later, new batch of course. I must it was a bit more enjoyable this time so I have bumped my rating up from 67. Goes to show how important it is to try from different harvests.

This is my second last cup of this Darjeeling before I’ve run out, and I’m going to miss it so much when it’s gone. It’s the last of my Good Darjeelings. I’ve got plenty of an Okay Darjeeling, which will have to do.

But this one. THIS ONE. Not my absolute, absolute favourite, but lovely. Light body, sweet, characteristic Darjeeling-ness and nice and woodsy-fruity. Holds up well to milk and sugar, in spite of its lightness. My favourite Darjeeling is a bit fuller than this one, but this’ll do very, very nicely.

I’ll miss you, Good Darjeeling.

Backlogging. See previous notes.

Hm. I think I enjoy Darjeelings more when I think of them as oolongs rather than black, and in light of what I’ve read about them recently, that may not even be inaccurate! (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_tea if you too are curious). Anyway – light body, amber color, spicy/fruity/muscatel(?) scent, and a really light floral taste. I think if I’d brewed this any longer it would have been unpalatably harsh; as it is, there’s just a hint of astringency.

This is quite nice, but unless it lasts more than two steeps I wouldn’t choose to buy it over a similar tasting oolong.

Very floral in smell, taste and aftertaste. Natural and lightly sweet, but I do pick up some bitterness as the cup cools. Not a bad cup at all.

Mmmmm, Darjeeling!

This has a lighter, more delicate flavor than Darjeeling No. 22. I still like 22 better, but I wouldn’t say no if someone offered me a cup of this tea. Lightly sweet, with a faintly grassy taste. This tea is very coarse in texture, so it pays to add a larger volume when I steep.

Loved this! Slightly floral but not overpowering. Second steep was pretty good!

Gave my stash of Adagio’s Darjeeling Puttabong Summer yet another session. Western style, 2½ g leaf in 8 oz boiling spring water for 90s, with an immediate re-steep of 30 min. I do feel this tea is unfortunately named, from the perspective of Western sippers. That aside, the first steep was smooth, malty, sweet, and with distinct honey and floral notes. The extended resteep was very astringent, mildly malty, with traces of floral notes, and no honey impressions. Still, it was drinkable in an indifferent sort of way, and my rating stands at 72. I feel the caffeine, but I still won’t be resteeping in the future. Anyone remember when sample pouches were a full ounce, for ten portions? This one was less than half that, at 11g. Someone must really think highly of this tea— but it isn’t me.

Before tasting this tea, from the Puttabong Estate, I was expecting the flavour to be totally different to the average Darjeeling, for two reasons. First, classic Darjeeling isn’t oxidized to the extent this black tea has been. Second, the most notable Darjeeling teas are harvested in the spring. I wasn’t surprised to find that a bulk of the flavour is more like a dark toasted oolong, with light Assam notes. Towards the finish is a quick fruitiness and very slight muscatel flavour, that is prominent in Darjeeling. Again, the whole first hit of notes are dark, but the end holds some light white grapes and peach notes.