Missy decided we were going to have a darjeeling face off today. We have a little bit left of this, the TD60 blend, and the Golden Moon darjeeling.
This one is a single estate, second flush darjeeling. It’s a darker colored liquor. It’s kind of funny. We used to drink all of our teas in our big super mugs (~18 oz), but we just picked up a handful of clear glass mugs because Missy wanted to see the teas she brewed. So now that I can more appropriately ‘see’ the color of the teas, I feel like it isn’t fair of me to NOT describe the color of the tea. Maybe this makes no sense, but if you’re following me, you’re probably used to me not making sense!
The flavor on this one is VERY fruity. I know that darjeeling teas have the ‘muscatel’ flavor that is so coveted, and I think this one is definitely a good example of that. I don’t really like the name of that though, sounds way too poshy. It’s grape, people! GRAAAAAPE. Muscatel just confused people, and, well, makes your tea sound stinky.
Anyway, this one is kind of grape first, ask tea questions later. This isn’t inherently bad, and to be honest the fact that the flavor was a little more HI I WEAR PURPLE made me think it was better than the TD60 blend. More flavor = more betterer, right? Well, no. As I finished this cup (i.e. kept drinking it straight instead of flitting between three different cups of tea), the flavor really started to get… well, annoying. Basically, it was a lot better in moderation.
Nod goes to TD60.
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Good discription! Did it kind of turn into Ripple!?
Well it sounds great to me :)
When I think of grape, I think of either grape-flavored icky stuff like grape soda or grape ice pops or grape candy, or I think of the sweet fruit that one might eat … not the grapes with which one might make wine. And muscatel does not taste like sickly sweet grape soda, or even like the fruit that I occasionally eat, it tastes quite different, which is why I distinguish one from another.
Here here LiberTEAS is right!
Yeah, and that’s one of those things that might just be due to experience. I can count the number of wines I’ve drank in my life without taking my socks off, so my mind doesn’t really have a flavor association there. So to me, it just tastes like an earthier, sour, grape.
Not a wine lover here either. But grape jam is yummy, but of course it usually has sugar added. Different than grape soda or candy etc though.
Generally speaking, I don’t like grape flavored things, I don’t even care much for grape jam or grape jelly unless it is the grape jelly that my gramma used to make from the grape vines she had in her backyard. It is likely that it will not be that grape jelly, since she no longer is making grape jelly and those vines have long since been pulled up. (Does that make me a grape jelly snob?)
Anyway, I don’t drink a lot of wine either. I used to, but, since I started drinking tea regularly, I don’t drink much of anything else. Even when I did drink wine more often, I was never what one would consider a wine expert. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
I guess the point I was trying to make above is that there is a difference in flavor between what I taste as muscatel and what I taste when I taste grapes or grape flavored foods and/or candy. So, that is why I distinguish it with the word Muscatel … not to make my tea sound stinky or confusing. :)
Good discription! Did it kind of turn into Ripple!?
Well it sounds great to me :)
When I think of grape, I think of either grape-flavored icky stuff like grape soda or grape ice pops or grape candy, or I think of the sweet fruit that one might eat … not the grapes with which one might make wine. And muscatel does not taste like sickly sweet grape soda, or even like the fruit that I occasionally eat, it tastes quite different, which is why I distinguish one from another.
Here here LiberTEAS is right!
Yeah, and that’s one of those things that might just be due to experience. I can count the number of wines I’ve drank in my life without taking my socks off, so my mind doesn’t really have a flavor association there. So to me, it just tastes like an earthier, sour, grape.
Not a wine lover here either. But grape jam is yummy, but of course it usually has sugar added. Different than grape soda or candy etc though.
Generally speaking, I don’t like grape flavored things, I don’t even care much for grape jam or grape jelly unless it is the grape jelly that my gramma used to make from the grape vines she had in her backyard. It is likely that it will not be that grape jelly, since she no longer is making grape jelly and those vines have long since been pulled up. (Does that make me a grape jelly snob?)
Anyway, I don’t drink a lot of wine either. I used to, but, since I started drinking tea regularly, I don’t drink much of anything else. Even when I did drink wine more often, I was never what one would consider a wine expert. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
I guess the point I was trying to make above is that there is a difference in flavor between what I taste as muscatel and what I taste when I taste grapes or grape flavored foods and/or candy. So, that is why I distinguish it with the word Muscatel … not to make my tea sound stinky or confusing. :)