Giddapahar AV2 Spring Wonder, First Flush 2020

A sipdown! (M: 1, Y: 21) — Prompt: An unflavored black tea

2022 “vintage” and called Summer Wonder but I wrote a note about this tea here before, so I am keeping my sipdown note in same entry.

Western steeping. Probably I haven’t tried it gongfu.

Leafhopper thank you! A fine 1st flush tea with flavours that lean a bit more towards 2nd flush — autumn leaf pile, muscatel and warm spices today in my cup, followed with meadow and honey flavours. Smooth and silky as derk notices in their note. A great cup for afternoon.

Since the weather is warming up this week, I’m moving back to some lighter teas. I prepared this first flush Darjeeling 1g:100mL with 85C water, steeped western. When I came back to the glass 5 minutes later to strain, confusion set it in because the aroma instantly reminded me of something I love: canned French style green beans. The taste is much the same, green beans mixed with squash blossom and dry grass, an undertone of yellow peony, a light note of Indian green chillies, and impressions of cream, almond and autumn leaf.

As soon as the sip, the liquor is luxuriously smooth and silky, glassy, clean. I really can’t get over the mouthfeel of this tea! It makes me think that a lot of the Dammann Frères advent black teas I tried this season might have had a Darjeeling base. The tea disappears like silk on the swallow, leaving the mouth comfortably slick and with a gentle salty-mineral mouthwatering finish. So good! I’ll have to try it with the higher temp water of Leafhopper’s note next time, which will most likely be later today!

I can see the similarities between this tea and another first flush Darjeeling I finished last month but this is so much more light and playful, gentle. It feels nourishing. A tea I could see myself craving in the hot days of October preceding our very short autumn. Thank you, Leafhopper :)

I just received a bunch of 2020 first and second flush Darjeelings from Lochan Tea, and, impatient as I am, I’ve already cut open one of the bags, even though I have some 2019 first flush on the go. Let me say that their foil vacuum-sealed bags are great for keeping tea fresh, but also sadly prevent me from trying all the teas at once, which I would totally do if I had enough empty tins. I steeped around 4 g in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 5 and 8 minutes.

I forgot how nice fresh Darjeeling is. The dry aroma of these fluffy, still slightly springy leaves is of flowers, autumn leaves, muscatel, chili, and stonefruit. The first steep has notes of herbs, chili, grass, honey, flowers, autumn leaves, muscatel, cream, and wood, with some stonefruit (apricot?) coming in on the aftertaste. This first flush is more savoury than sweet and has some pleasant astringency in the mouth. I wish Eastkyteaguy had access to this tea because there are flavours I can’t pin down that he’d probably get. The second steep has more wood and tannins, but still has the muscatel, spicy, grassy, and floral profile of the first steep.

This is an excellent way to begin my exploration of Lochan’s 2020 offerings. It reminds me a bit of the Guranse Spring Hand-Rolled Floral Black Tea from What-Cha I reviewed a few months ago. I gave the 2019 version of the Giddapahar Spring Wonder an 84. To my mind, the 2020 harvest is substantially better. There could be a number of reasons for this, including the AV2 cultivar, the possibility that I used more leaves, and the tea’s freshness. Regardless, I’m delighted I have 50 grams and look forward to trying the other teas I purchased.