Some Darjeelings seem to last for years, but others definitely don’t. This is what must have happened to this second flush from 2020. I steeped around 3 g of leaf in 355 ml of 195F water for 5, 7, and 9 minutes.

The dry aroma is of faint cocoa, muscatel, and grass. The first steep has notes of muscatel, cocoa, caramel, wood, honey, citrus, orange blossom, grass, and paper, along with some astringency. The flavours are a little muted, though still detectable. The next steep adds autumn leaves, bread, and malt. The final steep is bready and malty, with tannins, autumn leaves, and hints of muscatel.

This is a nice tea that has faded with the years. I’m not giving it a rating at this point. I also could have done shorter steeps to cut out some of the astringency.

Flavors: Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Caramel, Citrus, Cocoa, Grass, Honey, Malt, Muscatel, Orange Blossom, Paper, Tannin, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec 3 g 12 OZ / 355 ML

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Since I discovered Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong four years ago, I’ve been fascinated by loose-leaf tea. I’m glad to say that my oolong tastes have evolved, and that I now like nearly every tea that comes from Taiwan, oolong or not, particularly the bug-bitten varieties. I also find myself drinking Yunnan blacks and Darjeelings from time to time, as well as a few other curiosities.

However, while online reviews might make me feel like an expert, I know that I still have some work to do to actually pick up those flavours myself. I hope that by making me describe what I’m tasting, Steepster can improve my appreciation of teas I already enjoy and make me more open to new possibilities (maybe even puerh!).

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