Teabox

This was another of the Darjeeling oolongs I finished during the first week of September. Honestly, I did not find it to be quite as appealing as the spring oolong from Jungpana, though it was a very appealing, likable tea overall. I appreciated its range of floral, fruity, and nutty aromas and flavors.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material produced aromas of raisin, fruit leather, prune, and fig. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of roasted almond, wood, hay, straw, and citrus as well as a stronger fruit leather scent. The first infusion then introduced aromas of violet and dandelion. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted almond, dandelion, wood, raisin, and hay. There was also something of a sugary presence in the mouth. Subsequent infusions introduced stronger violet and dandelion aromas along with some rose-like scents. New impressions of roasted peanut, grass, green bell pepper, marigold, minerals, rose, and toasted cashew appeared in the mouth along with belatedly emerging flavors of violet, orange, prune, and fig. The later infusions offered lingering mineral, wood, roasted peanut, hay, and grass impressions along with subtle dandelion accents in places.

Like the other Goomtee Estate teas I have tried, this was a very quirky and often surprising tea. I could see it making a good entry point to the world of Darjeeling oolongs for fans of first flush Darjeeling black teas. My only real knocks on this tea were that it displayed a tendency to get a bit chalky and astringent in the mouth on some of the longer infusions, and some of its most appealing aromas and flavors faded a little too quickly for my liking. This was still a very nice tea, however, and though not previously mentioned, it worked tremendously well when brewed in the Western style. Overall, I would recommend that fans of Darjeeling teas give this one a shot.

Back around the start of September, I took a couple days to work my way through some Darjeeling oolong samples that I had purchased back in late summer and early autumn of 2017. This was one of them, and I have to say that I was impressed by it. Of course, it should also be noted that I am a huge fan of the teas produced by the Jungpana Estate. I particularly appreciated this tea’s depth and complexity.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of toasted cashew, hay, raisin, vanilla, malt, and wood. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of grass, straw, spinach, and roasted almond along with some hints of fennel. The first infusion offered a hint of green bell pepper on the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of toasted cashew, wood, hay, malt, vanilla, and roasted almond that were backed by surprising notes of mango and tangerine before impressions of green bell pepper and grass popped up on the finish. Subsequent infusions saw aromas of mango, tangerine, jasmine, and spearmint appear. Notes of fennel, spinach, raisin, and straw belatedly appeared in the mouth alongside new notes of spearmint, minerals, sugar, orange, and jasmine. The later infusions offered some lingering mineral, tangerine, mango, and fennel notes that were backed by impressions of grass, roasted nuts, green bell pepper, and spinach.

This was a complex, challenging, and refined first flush Darjeeling oolong that managed to remain approachable throughout a lengthy drinking session and never turned sour, bitter, or astringent. Fans of Darjeeling teas would probably be very pleased with it. I would have no issue with recommending it to oolong fans looking for something new or fans of Darjeeling black teas who are looking for something a little more challenging.

This is probably the first green tea from India for me. I got it from Skysamurai through the Discovery Teabox and it was actually sold by Yatra Tea, but I am pretty sure it’s the same tea and I don’t feel like creating another entry for it, especially considering that Yatra Tea don’t seem to sell it anymore.

Anyway, with regards to the tea, the dry leaf smells like strawberry plants and there are even more similar notes in the wet leaf smell — like thistles or blackberry plant. The smell has the hay like quality of young sheng in fact. Once the leaves cool down, I also get the smoky aroma.

The taste is also slightly akin to a young sheng, but less bitter and more woody and robust. Some notes that come up are conifer (maybe spruce?) twigs, rhubarb and thyme. Aftertaste is a little spicy and sweet. Overall, it’s a pleasant taste I would say, not quite what I would expect from a green tea though.

Smells lovely, like classic English Breakfast tea. Unfortunately, the flavour is quite weak and this is designed to be drunk with milk and sugar to accompany food.

Brewed at 191˚F.

Liquor aroma: Malted sugar, Red dates (Jujubes) not Medjool

Palate: Tastes more like Medjool dates. Pretty good on its own, starts with only the barest hint of astringency but the more you drink, the astringency builds up and I eventually had to add both milk and sugar.

Brewed at 189˚F for 4:00.

Tea has aroma of juicy, rich dates.

Flavour is slightly astringent, not good to drink on its own. Tastes a bit better with milk, but even better with sugar.

Brewed at 191˚F for 4 minutes.

I quite like the focused effect of this chai, with only one spice in it. It’s not overwhelming or too spicy, just accented. Perfectly drinkable on its own, and adding milk doesn’t make it much better.

Really gorgeous, punchy aroma of raisins and dates. Thick, full-bodied liquor that can be drunk plain with only minimum astringency and a lovely, satisfying mouthfeel.

This is currently out of stock at Teabox, but I’ll keep my eye out for the 2019 harvest!

Increasing my rating to 86.

Out of the 5 assam black teas I’ve tried from Teabox so far, this and the Mangalam Gold are the only ones that can be drunk without milk (i.e. not bitter on its own). Subtle malty Assam aroma, slightly fruity and floral like a Darjeeling. Nice flavour of dates and wood with no astringency. The only thing is, if you like your Assams strong and robust with that distinctive flavour, then you probably wouldn’t like this tea.

Brewed at 194˚F, as per the very precise instructions.

For the affordable price, I would consider buying a full-size of this tea.

Rating: 79

Strong ginger flavour. Bitter on its own but that is countered by adding milk.

Aroma: Caramel, Dates

Palate: Bitter! Absolutely undrinkable without milk. Is still slightly bitter with milk, but fine when pairing with food.

Brewed at 190˚F for 4:00.

Rating: 50

When I opened the packet, I was like Oh god, wayyy too much ginger. But after steeping, I discovered that first of all, I love tulsi (this magical Indian basil that I’ve never had before) and the sweetness counters the ginger. There’s a licorice note to it too that I adore and makes it even more candy-like. I’m glad I discovered a wonderful new caffeine-free tea option for evenings!

Rating: 83

Okay I keep coming back to this tea and brewed at around 88˚C and it’s still fantastic (with no milk or sugar). It’s a little bland when you add milk, so best drunk plain.

Increasing rating to 84 and I might purchase a full size of this!

This time I brewed it at 85˚C and it was beautiful. Mellow but still flavourful. Classic Assam maltiness and a hint of vanilla.

Rating: 75. Only reason it’s not higher is because it’s quite fussy to brew (see previous review)

I can definitely smell the malted sugar and cocoa notes, but no vanilla and it’s not as amazing as I envisioned when I read the notes.

Quite bitter / astringent, and I get an unpleasant tannic aftertaste that lingers on my tongue for a long time even after drinking it with milk.

Brewed at 194˚F for 4:00. Will try brewing it at 190˚F next time.

Rating: 62

Aroma:
Red dates (jujubes), malty sugar, stewed apples. Smells lovely, reviving for the morning.

Palate:
Light astringency, nutty, not much other flavour. Even after adding milk, there is still some astringency. Definitely needs sugar, or to be paired with a sweet breakfast food.

Brewed 2.5g in 7oz of water at 186˚F for 3:00.

I love the ginger almond fragrance. The tea tastes quite bitter using my steeping parameters, so it needs milk and sugar. Lovely breakfast drink.

Brewed at 194˚F for 5:00.

Rating: 76

Brewed at 185˚F for 4:00, and it’s actually less bitter than when I brewed it on the lower end of the range, at 176˚F! Lovely for the afternoon since it’s low-caffeine and it complemented my oyakodon lunch very well, I’m glad I tried .

It doesn’t have much flavour on its own, I get a bit of smoky nutty sweetness, but pairs well with savoury food.

Increasing rating to 75.

Smells divine, malted candy with that funky earthy smell similar to a Yunnan black tea, but with even more complex floral notes.

Unfortunately the flavour of the tea is slightly bitter and astringent. It tastes floral in the sense of chewing on a flower, not sweet but instead getting the bitter juices of the plant that is not meant to be eaten.

Brewed at 176˚F for 4:00.

Rating: 66

Brewed at about 176˚F for 5:00. Again, a wonderful experience and this time I got very strong notes of spicy ginger in addition to the typical white tea notes of floral and vegetal. Increasing rating.

Rating: 85

This is my first ever Nilgiri tea.

The dry leaf smells like Chinese green tea, sweet and vegetal. Tea liquor smells more like white tea, fruity and slightly floral, with steamed corn (as it says on Teabox’s website). It tastes fresh and sweet, no bitterness, a lot like sweet corn, maybe corn soup?

This tea is very good, and I am a huge fan of corn, but I am being very selective about how much green and white tea I buy every year now so I doubt I’ll buy the full size of this.

Brewed at 177˚F for just under 5:00.

Rating: 83

Wow. Trying this again while travelling and I don’t have access to my precision kettle, so I just used water about a minute off the boil. This has a heavenly aroma (malty, palm sugar, floral rose, inedible waxy tropical fruit) and the taste of the liquor actually lives up to its fragrance too. This along with the Mim Oolong from Teabox has convinced me that Indian oolongs are sorely underrated. What a pleasure to have a low-maintenance tea that can be brewed so forgivingly, compared to my finicky Dancong oolong I tried this morning.

Increasing rating to 80.

Aroma: Rose, floral, sweet fruit, palm sugar

Liquor: Lovely, full-bodied, sweet, nutty and roasted, flavourful.

Brewed at 187˚F

Rating: 75

Okay, I’m trying this again by correcting the brewing parameters I tried last time.

Brewed at 194˚F for 4:00 in about 7oz of water. At 4:00 the astringency is a little improved, though there is still a lot of dryness on my tongue. At this point I’m wondering if it’s something genetic that’s wrong with me, so I’d still advise you to sample this tea if you’re interested. For me, I’ll stick to my Chinese oolongs and Taiwanese 18.

Rating: 62