These leaves landed on my tea table in the form of a free 3 gram sample that was kindly included in a purchase I made over at House of Tea.
The Jungpana tea garden at Kurseong is, I am reliably informed, one of the oldest and best known in Darjeeling, and was founded in 1899.
As the name suggests the raw material came from an early spring harvest, in this case 2017. The leaves grew at an altitude of about 1500 metres.
| Steeping method | |
| Water Used: | Imsdal |
| Weight of dry leaf: | 3 grams |
| Infusion style: | Western |
| Steeping vessel: | 200 ml ceramic teapot |
| Water temperature: | 100°C |
| No. & duration: | a 1st. infusion @ 1 minute 45 seconds, then @ 2 minutes and finally 2 minutes 15 seconds for a total of 3 infusions |
This was a very interesting Darjeeling, it has to be said.
As you might expect, there was an abundance of floral aromas reminiscent of a rose garden in full bloom, but what made an impression on me was the taste.
Underpinning that flowery sweetness was a refreshing, tart nip, which reminded me of that particular sweet-sour combination you sometimes get in green apples.
It’s always problematic to draw specific conclusions about a tea from such a small sample, but this one tends to suggest that these leaves might be worth a closer look. If we have another long, hot, dry summer like last year’s, then I could really see a place for this tea in the old stash as a late afternoon, on the balcony under-the-parasol sipper.
Nice.
Northern Teaist 