Ineeka Tea Ambootia Tea Estate

Here's a brief visit to a Darjeeling tea field, courtesy of the good people at Ineeka.

Ineeka Tea Ambootia Tea Estate from Ineeka Tea on Vimeo.

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Tea Review 142- Mountain Rose Herbs Darjeeling

Darjeeling Tea (1st Flush)
Mountain Rose Herbs

As much as I like black tea I have to confess that Darjeeling is not typically one of my favorites. As a general rule they tend to be a bit too thin for me and I find that they tend toward bitterness rather easily.

This first flush, Fair Trade Darjeeling from Mountain Rose Herbs was a little different than most of the others I've sampled. It seemed to me to have a fuller taste than many and some flavor notes that were faintly reminiscent of chocolate/cocoa. While I probably wouldn't put it at the top of my black tea list I certainly found it quite drinkable.

Here's what Mountain Rose has to say about this one:

A true unblended Darjeeling tea from fresh, green, subtle leaves. Darjeeling is one of the most sought after tea beverages for its astringent qualities and its ability to indulge the taste buds. Has a wonderfully grounding aftertaste, and is complex in characteristics. From the Northern Himalayas in India comes this exquisite tea fit for the most occasions. Our Darjeeling tea is Fair Trade certified and contains caffeine.

Image: Mountain Rose Herbs

Sample provided by Mountain Rose Herbs
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Bringing Tea to Darjeeling

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Bringing Tea to Darjeeling
By William I. Lengeman III

As far as I’m aware the Darjeeling tea industry doesn’t have a slogan, but if they did, perhaps something along the lines of “quality, not quantity” would be suitable. The total output of tea produced in this region of India is pretty much a drop in the bucket when stacked up against India’s other great growing region, Assam, but the quality is typically high enough that Darjeeling is one of the more coveted varieties among tea connoisseurs.

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Tea Review 130 - Le Palais des Thés Darjeeling

Darjeeling Puttabong F.T.G.F.O.P. (Second Flush)
Le Palais des Thés

I'm never one to waste an opportunity to sing the praises of black tea. But I have to admit, at the risk of offending a phalanx of tea connoisseurs, that Darjeeling is among my least favorite of all the black teas.

Which is an odd way to start out a tea review, I suppose. But even though I wasn't impressed with Le Palais des Thés's Darjeeling Puttabong at first, I found it growing on me the more I drank it. For me Darjeeling is probably never going to measure up to a great Assam or Keemun, but that's just a matter of personal taste. If you're a fan of Darjeelings I suspect that you'll like this one quite a bit.

Here's what Le Palais des Thés has to say about this one:

A prestigious estate and of one of the oldest in Darjeeling, famed for its tippy flushes. The second flush produces a dark infusion and an amber liquor with depth and a lot of body. Its unique full-bodied and woody flavor makes it an ideal Matin tea.

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Darjeeling Visit & Ceylon History

No, I didn't visit Darjeeling, as the headline of this piece might have led you to believe. But Matt Gross did, and he wrote a fairly substantial article about the experience for the New York Times Travel section. Among the stops on his trip, Darjeeling's Makaibari, Glenburn and Goomtee estates.

If it's info on Ceylon tea that you seek, check out this Web site devoted to the history of tea production and culture there. There's quite a lot of information on hand, all of it brought to us by the good people at Sri Lanka's Dilmah Tea.

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tea, green tea, food, food and drink

Boston Tea Stuff, Tea'd Up & More

Time for a roundup of some miscellaneous bits that have accumulated lately.

The anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (12/16/1773) is almost upon us. If you're in the vicinity of Boston tomorrow you might want to check out the 233rd Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party Reenactment at the Old South Meeting House. More here.

Boston Tea Campaign doesn't have anything to do with the Boston Tea Party, as far as I can tell. They do specialize in selling Darjeeling tea - and nothing else - at an affordable price. Until now, BTC has only sold their tea in loose form. They recently began offering it in tea bags.

Tempest Tea has a new product called Tea'd UP. Billed as an Energy Power Shot, Tempest describes is thusly, "a hot new product packed with powerful green tea antioxidants, ginseng, B vitamins and OVER 20% more CAFFEINE per serving than energy drinks."

Enviga has been raising some hackles, thanks to the creative claims Coca-Cola/Nestle is making for the product. Popgadget gives it a more or less positive review here.

Last up, here's a recipe for Green Tea Panna Cotta.

tea, green tea, food, food and drink, Boston Tea Party, Enviga, Darjeeling

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Specialists Revisited

I don't consider myself an expert on business or tea. But if I were looking to get into the tea business nowadays I think I would specialize in one small niche. For my money, it seems that there are too many tea merchants out there trying to do it all.

I wrote about a few of these niche companies previously. There's Kyela Teas, which focuses on Darjeeling and O-Cha.com, which narrows its focus to Japanese green teas.

Here's an interesting informational site about Pu-erh tea called Pu-erh, A Westerner's Quest. Oolong fans might want to try OolongOz.com, which is run by "a dedicated group of High Mountain Oolong Tea aficionados living in Australia."

What got me thinking on this topic again was an email I received yesterday announcing that Matcha Source had opened their "doors" for business. Matcha, of course, is a Japanese green that's probably best known as the tea used in Japanese tea ceremonies. Of course, nowadays it might be better known as a tea used in assorted and sundry Starbucks drinks.

Image: Matcha Source

tea, green tea, food, food and drink, Darjeeling, matcha, oolong

Only the finest imported teas at Golden Moon Tea

Counterfeit Tea

While most of us probably connect the term "counterfeit" with money, the fact is that just about any valuable product can be knocked off. If you thought pricey teas were the exception to the rule, guess again.

Darjeeling tea is often the target of tea counterfeiters, which is not surprising, given the fact that it typically sells for a premium. As Amelia C. Levy notes, in her quite excellent article, Magical, Mystical Darjeeling: Taking Tea in the Clouds, "every prized gem has its counterfeiters, and a good deal of tea over the years from other areas has been sold under the Darjeeling name."

Levy's article was published in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal a few years back and you can find it here. Worth a look, even though it doesn't cover tea counterfeiting to any great extent.

Here's an entry from Tea News from Darjeeling Area about the problem of "unscrupulous dealers selling Nepal tea in the name of the premium brand." That's Darjeeling, in case you're wondering. Check out the full article here.

From Pakistan's Daily Times, here's an article that discusses the dramatic rise in tea smuggling. You can access it here, but be aware that you'll have to register at the site (for free) first.

On an unrelated note, but also from India, comes this article that posits that "tea is the new coffee" and gives the lowdown on algae tea, among other things. Yum.

tea, green tea, food, food and drink, Darjeeling, counterfeit, blank

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Tea Review 71 - Boston Tea Campaign Darjeeling

First Flush Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Darjeeling (FTGFOP1)
Boston Tea Campaign

You get what you pay for - or so I've always assumed. So as much as I'd love to be able to obtain really topnotch tea at bargain basement prices, I have to admit that I'm skeptical when anyone offers such a thing.

Just as I was skeptical when I found that Boston Tea Campaign's First Flush Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP1) was going for $16 a pound plus $5 shipping.

Tea Guy really hasn't had as much experience with Darjeeling tea as I'd like. As far as Indian teas go I've tended to focus my interests a little more on the Assam varieties. But I know enough about Darjeeling tea to know that one dollar an ounce is really cheap. Which, as I said, made me more than a bit skeptical.

But, as it turns out, my skepticism was mostly unfounded. Though I don't have a lot of other Darjeeling experiences to compare this one to, I found it to be not bad at all. It has quite a light, pleasant taste. It's perhaps not quite as fruity or aromatic as some of the few Darjeelings I've tried, but it's not bad, especially if you consider the price.

My only other complaint - but it's one that applies to most Darjeeling tea I've tasted - is that they tend to be a bit on the bitter side. Perhaps I just haven't yet found the optimum brewing criteria. I started out using boiling water for about 3-4 minutes and now I've got that down to about two minutes. It's still a little more bitter than I like so maybe I'll back off to 1.5 minutes, or even one.

But, a pretty good experience and you sure can't beat the price. How does Boston Tea Campaign offer their wares so cheaply? As they tell it, they're "an offspring of Teekampagne, located in Berlin, Germany. Founded 20 years ago, Teekampagne has evolved into the largest mail order tea business in Germany and become the world’s largest single importer of Darjeeling tea."

So the trick here, apparently, is to offer one product and one only and to buy it up in sufficient quantities that you can sell it really cheap.

But don't take my word for it. If you ask nice, BTC will send you a sample of their tea and, right now, first time customers can pick up a pound of this variety for only $10.

tea, food, food and drink, Darjeeling, first flush

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Boston Tea Campaign

The other day I caught a few seconds of Billy Crystal on TV blabbing about a children's book he'd written. It's always kind of bugged me when actors and other entertainers play on their celebrity to move into areas where they may or may not be so talented.

I like the notion of finding what you do well and sticking with that. I'm also fond of companies who find a really narrow niche, excel at that and do nothing else. A little while back I wrote about a few tea companies that occupy such a niche. One sells only Darjeeling tea and another only Japanese greens. I also mentioned an Australian company that specializes in oolong.

To this list let's add Boston Tea Campaign, an offshoot of a German company called Teekampagne. The latter is said to be the largest single importer of Darjeeling loose tea and they claim to offer "top-quality Darjeeling teas at unbeatable prices". Which sounds good to me.

Check out their Web site and see what you think. Even if you don't end up buying, there's a lot of interesting info, including a list of tea museums, an extensive tea bibliography and even a few ebooks on tea topics.

tea, food, food and drink, Darjeeling

George Bush Sips Darjeeling

Or did he?

I'm not sure how I missed this one, but I did. It's off-topic as far as Assam Month goes, but let's not quibble.

On a visit to India earlier this month, our Commander-In-Chief was served Darjeeling tea at a lunch with the Prime Minister. The reporter who penned this piece in India's Statesman apparently was not able to verify whether or not the President actually drank any of the tea. Also no word on what variety of Darjeeling was served, but I guess one shouldn't expect that level of detail in an article like this.

A shout out to the Tea News from Darjeeling Area blog, where I caught wind of this item. A nice resource, if you're looking to keep up with tea news in this one particular region.

Sip Some Darjeeling Tea

tea, Darjeeling, food, food and drink

Drink Coke, Drink Tea & Darjeeling Tea Tales

Two more installments of Peter Karthak's Darjeeling Tea Tales are now available at Kantipur Online. Here are the links to parts six and seven. Links to three, four and five are in my previous post and still no sign of one and two.

While we're on the subject of India and tea, here's a little bit of background on the rumored initiative by a certain soda giant to wedge their way into the Indian market for coffee and tea.

A Visit To Darjeeling

If you're not able to visit India any time soon, you can try a little bit of armchair travel with this informative article on Darjeeling's tea industry - Darjeeling: Tea by Any Other Name Would Not Be As Sweet. It's by Bruce Richardson, of Kentucky's Elmwood Inn Fine Teas. It's located here, along with a number of other articles by Richardson.

Tea Review 34 - Ghoom Darjeeling

Ghoom Darjeeling
alltea.com

Ghoom Darjeeling is a thing of wonder. Let me get that out of the way right at the outset. Not long after receiving my shipment, I brewed a cup to drink with breakfast. I couldn't resist taking a quick sip immediately after brewing it, even though it was still hot enough to incinerate my eyeballs. Based on that sip, I was ready to be disappointed.

After a few moments the Ghoom had settled down a bit and cooled off to where it was drinkable. I took another sip and at this point I did something I almost never do. I made an involuntary exclamation expressing my immense satisfaction. Yep, just squeaked right out of me.

Since then I've been hitting the Ghoom rather hard and each time I do I'm almost overcome by an impulse to click up my heels, grab an umbrella and caper around the room, bellowing show tunes at the top of my lungs. Which kind of worries me, because I'm not really a bellowing show tunes kind of guy. But I guess a really kick-ass Darjeeling will do that to you.

Varieties like this are a reminder of why we drink fine teas, friends. So go to the phones. Operators are standing by.