Ya-Ya's Tea Board

As announced last month, we had a shipment of new Darjeeling 1^st flush teas coming. The first two have finally arrived and I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce them alongside a new addition to our offerings of high quality Assam black teas.

I expect the new stock of the outstanding Arya Ruby First Flush 2011 to arrive within the next couple of weeks, but I’ll keep you up-to-date on that one as soon as it has arrived.

First up in the lineup of our 2011 First Flush Darjeelings is the smooth Singbulli SFTGFOP 1 (pictured at the start of this post). Singbulli (“Home of Birds”) Estate is situated in the Mirik Valley in Darjeeling, the plantation spans elevations from about 400-1200m and is famous for its production of outstanding first flush teas. It seems that the garden manages to produce one of the best first flush teas each year! It is in conversion to organic agriculture and is expecting its fairtrade certification soon.
But back to the tea at hand. The dry leaves are a beautiful melange of black, browns and green with an abundance of silvery tips. They have an intense aroma of flowers with a hint of hay, a smell that I love in Darjeelings. When brewed, this tea easily rates amongst the smoothest Darjeelings I have tried. There is a hint of astringency (which is required for any quality Darjeeling), but it is so well balanced, that even people sensitive to bitterness won’t have a problem with this tea. The infusion is light and rich at the same time and has a golden colour which is a bit darker than most first flush Darjeelings. Since its arrival a couple of weeks or so ago, this tea has quickly become my morning go-to tea that gets me started into the day. Priced at $14.50 per 100g, it is easily affordable to drink it on a daily basis.

The other tea from Darjeeling is the organic Sourenee FTGFOP1. The tiny Sourenee (which is sometimes spelled Soureni) Estate is also located in Mirik Valley, right next to (the much larger) Singbulli and Phuguri Estates. It derives its name from a tree native to the area (Sour) and Rani, the queen of the valley. The tea is grown on slopes ranging in elevation from 700 to 1300m. Sourenee Estate became a certified organic tea garden in 2009 and has produced very good teas for a long time (in fact, you might have tried some of their fantastic Clone Wiry 2^nd flush tea from us about 5 years ago).
The tea has a gorgeous smell of first flush Darjeeling: heady and floral. It also has some of the muscatel notes which are usually characteristic for second flush teas. The taste is light and sweet – a classic Darjeeling FF! While it is less complex than the Singbulli SFTGFOP1, it is a wonderful tea and should help to turn casual tea drinkers into Darjeeling cravers! The price is $12.20 per 100g.

While Darjeeling produces high-grown teas, teas in neighbouring Assam are grown at low elevation under tropical conditions. As an addition to our teas from Assam, I decided to carry some stock of this year’s first flush Mokalbari TGFOP 1. The tea garden is famous for its production of tippy golden teas and this tea is a great example of these. Full of golden tips, it produces a rich, full and malty cup. When you open a bag of this tea, the dry leaves exude such an inviting aroma, that I’m constantly tempted to just stick my nose in there, close my eyes and let the smell carry me to the far-away foothills of the Himalaya. Your ticket price for this journey of the mind is $7.80 per 100g (which gets you a lot of trips to Assam, believe me).

If this has inspired you to try some of these teas, you can place an order through our ordering page.

[techtags: Darjeeling First Flush, India, Darjeeling 1st flush, Assam, organic tea]