India Darjeeling Black Tea

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The Darjeeling region of India is located in a spectacular mountain setting in the Indian Himalaya. This region was settled by the British as a hill-station and spa in the 1800’s because of its ‘healthy air.’ By the mid 1800’s the English began to cultivate tea in the hills and valleys throughout the Darjeeling region, and English tea drinkers developed a passion for the taste of this tea.

Today Darjeeling tea is known as the ‘Champagne of Tea’, reflecting its overall style and quality, and it has loyal tea drinking followers worldwide. Among India’s diverse collection of fine teas it is known as ‘ the exotic one.’ It is beloved for its clarity of taste, invigorating aroma and smooth, crisp flavor. But Darjeeling teas vary quite a bit in style and flavor depending on the season in which they are plucked. Tea lovers should be familiar with a few elements of Darjeeling tea manufacture so that they can understand what they are purchasing and then determine what they like.

At Tea Trekker we offer several seasonal harvests of leaf tea from the gardens in Darjeeling:

1st Flush Darjeeling (spring-plucked tea):
spicy, pleasantly astringent and can sometimes be 'green'-ish in style (a.k.a. the European/German/Russian style) - we note this when one of our 1st Flush teas belongs to this sub-category.

2nd Flush Darjeeling (late spring/early summer-plucked tea):
smooth and rich in style with the characteristic 'muscatel' [raisin-y] flavor and aroma.

Autumnal Pluck Darjeeling (early autumn-plucked tea): Plucked when cool weather returns, this minor crop offers an easy drinking, soft, mellow tea. We have one of these only occasionally, so they are worth keeping an eye out for.

helpful links:

Steeping Black tea Darjeeling Tea Protected Origin Status New Tea, Rested Tea, and Aged Tea
Black Tea
Organic
Grade: Moonshine EX-23
Pre-1st Flush (March)
Black Tea
Grade: ‘Delight’
1st Flush (March)
Black Tea
Grade: ‘Wonder’
1st Flush (Feb/Mar into May)
Black Tea
Organic
Grade: SFTGFOP 1 China
1st Flush (March)
Black Tea
Grade: ‘Enigma’ Spring Harvest
1st Flush (March)
Black Tea
Grade: ‘Muscatel/Delight’
2nd Flush (June)
Black Tea
Organic
Grade: 'Muscatel'
2nd Flush  (June)