2022 Darjeeling Style Tea Loose-Leaf, Light Oxidation, USDA Organic

Origin: Thailand
Harvest: Spring 2022
Cultivar: TRES #17
Availability: In Stock

$14.00

Reward Points on purchase: 4 Details

It is, without exaggeration, a unique tea for Thailand. I’m pretty sure, at this moment, this kind is only available at one factory (and here).

Despite the outward resemblance to Dongfang Meiren, the material is not bug-bitten and the oxidation is much lighter than in “Beauty”. Miraculously, they made Darjeeling notes appear in the tea!

The classic DFMR is also clearly visible in the taste though. After all, you can’t hide the Taiwanese cultivar (TRES #17).

The aroma of the tea is rich and spicy. Sweet-and-sour berries, citrus and grassy notes, fruit caramel. Distinguished passion fruit, white currant, and raspberry.

The taste is rich, full-bodied–“green” caramel, citrus melody, sweet-and-sour berry mix.

By the fifth steeping, the tea opens up into warmth and sweetness.

Thai Darj holds many steepings and can withstand even boiling water. Unlike the genuine, more capricious Darjeeling, it is not afraid of over-brewing.

The aftertaste is long and oily: the trail of fruit caramel stays on the throat for more than an hour.

Its Cha Qi is soft and makes you feel weightless.

Indian Darjeeling is headier, it’s a fact. But our oolong is more for gourmet hedonists. The tea really came out fantastically delicious. I hope the factory will be able to repeat it.

This Darjeeling-style oolong should not be put off for ripening, it is better to drink it right now so as not to lose bright citrus and caramel notes.

2022 Darjeeling Style Tea Lightly-oxidized

USDA Organic Tea

Reviews (2)

The Lazy Literatus, 19/09/2022

A light oxidized tea made from the TRES #17 (Bailu/Ruan Zhi/'soft stem) cultivar. It's not an oolong, there's no kill-green step as far as I know, but it looks a LOT like a Don Fang Mei Ren - minus the bug-bitten step. [This is a lightly oxidized and lightly roasted oolong hybrid. So, in all aspects, this tea is closer to oolong than to real Darjeeling. TEASIDE Note.]
It wasn't *intended* as a Darjeeling first flush-style tea, but it really has no other comparison. Darjeeling first flush is often harsher, more thick-bodied - owed to the broken lead material and harder withering step. This was softer, not as astringent, and creamy; less floral. But the overall similarities are still there.
It reminds me of a small village Darjeeling I had a couple of years ago (but that one was smoked), and a non-bug-bitten DFMR I tried years before that. A perfect afternoon type o' tea.

bibnida, 31/07/2022

The seller's description is accurate. It's like a lighter bodied Darjeeling without the astringency. It's a finely crafted wulong fit for afternoons and for those times when you have a guest or two who want to sample your collection. I'd put this at the beginning of the session, when their palettes are still fresh and can capture all its nuances (the bright fruits and soft syrup at the back of the throat), or as the last sample because of the contrast its novel flavors offer against most of the other teas you would have served.

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