Puttabong clonal queen organic sftgfop-1 Ex-2 and North Tukvar Clonal delight sftgfop-1 EX-3/1st flush Darjeeling tea 2012:

Puttabong clonal queen organic sftgfop-1 Ex-2 and North Tukvar Clonal delight sftgfop-1 EX-3/1st flush Darjeeling tea 2012:

Puttabong Tea estate in Darjeeling is one of the oldest Darjeeling teas producing estate. It is located in the Northern valley of Darjeeling hills. Actually Puttabong and North Tukvar tea estates are divided into 2 tea estates after the Jayshree tea group took over the tea gardens. It was formerly known as the Tukvar tea estate. The garden was very big and had different special tea bushes in it. So in the late 1960s this estate was divided in 2 tea gardens. The North Tukvar part of the garden consists of assamica type of bushes and now days they also have some high quality exclusive clones from which exclusive high quality teas are made. The Puttabong portion of the plantation has recently converted into an organic plantation which has both china and clonal varietal of tea bushes.

Right from the beginning of my career with Tea Emporium, we always had Puttabong clonal queen in our list of teas with every 1st flush harvest but last year during the 1st flush 2011 harvest we could not have this tea in our list since there was an embargo going on in Darjeeling due to which no teas were allowed to get dispatched to the exporters or re-sellers for a month and by the time the embargo was lifted the quality of the teas really went down in this garden. So we had to keep it away from our list of 1st flush teas.

I was in a constant touch with Mr. Somani (the Superintendant of North Tukvar and Puttabong tea estates)and he had promised me that he will make some of the finest teas for us by making his expert pluckers pluck some of the youngest and freshest buds and shoots from the high elevation clonal field of both the plantations.

The 1st invoice that we selected from this expert tea maker of Darjeeling tea industry was Puttabong clonal Queen –Organic sftgfop-1/Ex-2.This fantastic tea is plucked from the RR, P312 and AV2 clonal bushes of the plantation. The dry leafs are small in size and consists of high amounts of needle like silver tips and has a very bright greenish appearance in this state .The dry leafs also releases some exotic fruity flavors of green apples and cucumber in this state. When steeped for 3 minute this tea release bright liquor in the cup. Each sip is super smooth like silk and leaves fruity flavors of green apples and mangoes and further ends with a lemony after taste on the palate. A truly majestic tea of the harvest made in a limited quantity!

The next invoice that took us by surprise was an excellent 1st flush 2012 tea from the North Tukvar tea estate. This batch of tea is produced in a very limited quantity from the youngest clonal fields of this plantation which has been plucked for the first time to produce a batch of tea. This tea is extremely white/greenish in appearance since it has a lot of silver tips in it and releases a typical fruity flavor of pine apples and guavas in this state. When steeped for 3 minutes the cup gives out light and bright liquor.Each sip is extremely fruity and delicious which reminds of a very high quality champagne and leaves a soft butter like taste on the palate as an after taste. A true tea lover must agree that this limited edition of exclusive tea should not be missed at any cost! It a rare premium tea better known as the North Tukvar clonal delight sftgfop-1 Ex-3/1st Flush 2012.

Thurbo (Spring Delight) sftgfop-1/EX-2 -1st Flush darjeeling tea 2012

Thurbo (Spring Delight) sftgfop-1 / Ex -2:
The Thurbo Tea Estate is one of the largest tea gardens in Darjeeling. It is located in the mirik valley of Darjeeling and produces about four hundred thousand kilograms of tea annually. This year the 1st flush started a bit late due to cold temperatures and less rainfall. Almost all the gardens in mirik valley started their production in the 2nd week of March but the batches that rolled out of the gardens were small lots of 20-40 kgs. This is about 60% lesser than the usual.
We were constantly receiving samples from various plantations of Darjeeling but we were waiting for the right one and we had a lot of high expectations for good teas from Thurbo tea estate since this garden has been consistently making very nice teas even during the draught which occurred in the last 1st flush harvest. We tasted lots of clonals, hybrids and china samples from this garden until we came across this Thurbo (Spring Delight) Ex2 lot which is the first pure 1st flush 2012 batch of tea from this garden which has no mixture of winter leafs at all.
This particular batch is actually made from 2 types of premium clonal leafs i.e. the P312 clone and T4 clone. The P312 clone is famous for its flowery character .The T4 is a clone which was born or made in the Thurbo tea garden itself and is known for its bold silver tips and fruity flavors.
This excellent tea is very well sorted and has a unique fruity fragrance of ripe mangoes and sugarcane in the dry leaf state. When steeped for about 3 minutes it gives very bright liquor in the cup. Each sip is extremely smooth and leaves a soft flavor of marigold flower as an after taste. This is real nectar from the nature. A great tea for a tea lover!

An Approach to 1st flush 2012 darjeeling tea

An approach to 1st flush 2012 Darjeeling tea:

The winters have finally passed away in Darjeeling and we had a very cold winter season here. It also rained at certain intervals here during the winters so we are expecting a much better 1st Flush 2012 darjeeling tea harvest this year than the previous last 3 years.
I had recently taken a drive downhill towards the Mirik Valley in Darjeeling where world famous tea gardens like Thurbo,Phuguri and Singbulli tea estates are located and saw a lot of newly grown baby shoots and buds on the tea bushes in the tea fields. This period of time is better known as the pre-1st Flush period. During this period of time the flushing of new shoots and buds are very minimum, so most of the invoices are often mixed up with the old leafs as a result of which the shelve life of a tea produced during this period of time is very less and a tea produced during this period often loses its flavor within 2-3 months from its manufacture. It really takes years of observation and knowledge to understand the real and pure 1st Flush tea. We have already been flooded with samples from various different gardens in Darjeeling but we are still waiting for few invoices to roll out of the gardens so that the yellow or the old leafs are fully cleared out from the tea bushes and then we shall start choosing the best invoices of Darjeeling teas as usual for our clients worldwide.
The manufacture of 1st flush teas have already started in lower elevations gardens in kurseong valley like Rohini,Tindharia,jogmaya and Jungpana tea estates but as I have mentioned above that the pure 1st flush will only start after 2-4 invoices roll out of these individual gardens and for that of course you will have to depend on your tea supplier.
The right temperature difference between day and night should be about 8 degrees Celsius for a perfect 1st flush harvest. Most of the finest teas are made from the clonal/young bushes during this period of time,as a perfect cup of 1st flush Darjeeling tea should be light/bright in color ,fruity and flowery in flavor and it should leave a slight astringency on the tea lover`s palate as an after taste. If all these factors are present in a 1st Flush tea then I would call it a well made tea.
I request all tea lover`s to have patience and keep visiting us on facebook (www.facebook.com/teaemporium) and our blog for latest updates!

Margaret`s Hope ftgfop-1 ch. Exclusive DJ594/ Autumn flush 2011 Darjeeling tea.

We are really glad to have a wonderful tea from this tea plantation in Darjeeling after a long time in our list of Darjeeling teas. Actually after our friend (Mr.A.Gurung, tea maker) left the plantation in the year 2010 and joined another plantation we lost our interest in this estate`s teas as none of its teas were thrilling us after the new tea maker had joined the garden. Well they made good teas all the way long but the basic style of the teas were not matching our expectations.
As I have mentioned in few of my previous posts that this year about only 20% of the teas of this harvest is original autumn flush teas and rest of the teas being marketed as autumn flush is actually the monsoon or the 3rd flush teas. This happened due to the prolonged rains that lasted till the 10th of November 2011 and also due to cold low temperatures due to which the tea bushes could not generate enough leafs for the autumn flush harvest.
This particular invoice from the Margaret`s hope tea estate is hard withered as a result of which the dry leafs have a slight greenish appearance and has a typical fruity aroma in this state. This tea should be steeped for complete 4 minutes and when strained in a cup it releases bright golden liquor. Each sip is absolutely smooth and fruity and ends with a slightly burnt and musky aftertaste on the palate.
I`m sure this tea will be appreciated by everyone who loves Darjeeling teas!

Thurbo (tippy clonal ) Exclusive Ex-23/Autumn flush 2011

I am extremely happy to have this particular batch of tea in our list of autumn flush 2011 specially when there is a serious shortage of high quality teas in this season. We had cupped several samples from this plantation in this harvest and to be very honest this plantation produced some good teas when compared to some of the finest plantation in Darjeeling. Most of the clonal tea batches which rolled out after the 10th of November 2011 from this plantation were very nice and I must say that this year the Thurbo plantation has been making good teas right from the early spring to the end of autumn consistently.
Since we are located in Darjeeling and being one of the oldest traders from Darjeeling we share a very good relation with most of the plantation and specially Mr.J.D. Rai (the quality controller/senior manager of the group) had promised us to provide with a very special batch from this plantation and we are really thankful to him for offering us the batch no. EX-23 which is a typical exclusive quality autumn flush 2011 tea.This exclusive batch is plucked from the high elevation clonal fields of the Thurbo plantation.The dry leafs are very well sorted and has a fair amount of silver and golden tips and also releases a very unique ripe mango like aroma in this state. When steeped for complete 4 minutes the cup releases a bright golden/orange liquor.Each sip is extremely fruity and smooth .We assure a 100% quality guarantee for this exclusive tea and can declare this tea as a Tea Emporium signature tea of the season. Do not miss this superb tea!!!

Castleton ftgfop-1 (spl.ch.) autumn Dj442/Autumn flush 2011

We are really proud to have this tea in our list of autumn flush 2011 teas .We had cupped about 23 invoice samples from this plantation of Darjeeling and have selected this excellent batch. This tea was manufactured on the 14th of November which was actually the second last invoice that rolled out of the garden before it closed for the winters and I was really sad before I came across this batch as most of the samples that we had cupped earlier was either a bit flat in the cup or some had less aroma.
Actually this tea was made perfectly as it stopped raining in Darjeeling after the 10th of November and the leafs had enough time on the bush to dehydrate as a result of which this excellent batch of autumn tea is well withered, rolled and fired. The dry leafs are bright coppery in appearance which is truly a good sign of a perfect autumn tea. The cup has bright liquor which further releases exotic aroma of ripe fruits. Each sip is extremely smooth and finishes with a mellow after taste.
A classic offering of the season!

Balasun china classic sftgfop-1 /DJ 289 autumn flush 2011

Since the autumn flush 2011 started a bit late this year due to prolonged monsoons in Darjeeling we had a difficult time procuring the perfect Autumnal teas. As I have written in my previous posts that a perfect autumn tea harvest needs dry atmospheric conditions but right through the beginning of the month of November we had frequent rainfall in almost each alternative day, so one had to be very careful while procuring the right teas.
I came across this particular invoice from the Balasun tea estate while I tasted a lot of tea samples from Risheehat, Sungma, Puttabong and Balasun tea estates. The dry leafs are well sorted in this invoice of tea and the leafs are kept slightly large and bold and when this tea is brought near the nose it releases a unique aroma of dry fruits like dates and nuts. The cup is slightly dark and strong than the usual autumn tea and thus makes a perfect breakfast tea. This tea can also be enjoyed with a splash of milk and sugar. I have included this tea in my list as many tea lover friends of ours had suggested us to procure a tea that will suit as a perfect breakfast tea and we assure that everyone will admire this tea.
A perfect tea to start your day at a reasonable price!