Friday, June 26, 2009

Sungma Supreme Muscatel DJ-163 and Turzum DJ-11 clonal wonder 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009:

Sungma Supreme Muscatel DJ-163 and Turzum DJ-11 clonal wonder 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009:


As days passed by towards the mid of June I was worried about the muscatel variety teas, as due to the uncertain heavy rainfall before the peak 2nd Flush harvest all the teas started having heavy liquor and lighter flavour, almost all good Muscatel tea makers in the district made good muscatel teas but not the best for me as for me when I offer a muscatel variety on my sales offer it should be up to the quality mark , I had great expectations for this variety of tea from gardens like Castleton and Margaret’s hope tea estates but none of them did any wonders for me so I finally called up Mr. Jha (Superintendent of Sungma Tea Estate) for his muscatel teas after the 15th of June`09, and he asked me to wait for 2-3 days as he said he was making some excellent invoices and the 1st samples of those premium teas would be sent to us , so I waited patiently for those 3 days, finally after 4 days the samples arrived and I was really very pleased to see all the teas, as all of them were very well made and were really value for money teas but I was attracted toward the Sungma Supreme Muscatel DJ-163 which was an invoice made from the pure “kakra” leafs, “kakra” in local language means dehydrated leafs, this dehydration of leafs and shoots takes place during this time in a small portion of land in the garden as the leafs and shoots are bitten by an insect called green fly, when these insects bite the leafs ,the leafs automatically starts oxidizing on the bushes itself as pores are formed on it and the tea maker has to wait for the perfect time to pluck these leafs when the temperature and soil conditions are perfect and when the tea is further processed, this muscatel beauty is born, I personally believe that a tea lover actually pays for the time and not the tea in Darjeeling tea industry as its the time that yields good tea and makes the same tea bush conceive different characters and varities of teas through out the year. Anyways talking about the Sungma Supreme Muscatel sftgfop-1/ DJ-163,I must say its only fine plucked from 100% pure china bushes as one can see the fine sorted leafs of the tea, this tea has a very fruity aroma in the dry leaf state, when steeped for about 5 minutes this tea leaves some very smooth muscatel aroma, I feel every sip of this tea is pure magic as every sip sings a different note of dry fruits with a hint of slight astringency that keeps the taste of young red grapes alive on the palate. A great Muscatel tea indeed!
I was also offered a clonal tea by Mr. Jha but I was not really interested in any more clonals as I had enough clonal teas in my list but somehow he convinced me to atleast try the sample of the clonal tea from the Turzum division of Sungma which has only B-157 clonal bushes, this type of clone is known for making some very matured flavored teas with a heavy liquor unlike the Darjeeling AV2 and P312 type clones which are used to make lighter and floral teas. So I finally tried the sample and I loved it at one go as honestly I had tasted a matured flavoury tea that had both rich aroma and strong color after many months of tea tasting, this excellent tea could not be missed by me as many overseas buyers were bidding for this tea, the general description of this tea would be like it has a very finely plucked bold leafs, silver and golden unbroken tips in it, when steeped for about 5 minutes this tea leaves some aggressive and rich fruity aroma with a hint of ripe oranges, each sip in the cup will surely please a tea lover as rich hints of apricots and other grapes can be felt, fine notes of muscatel that remains on the palate with extreme mellowness as an after taste…. I must say that Turzum /organic sftgfop-1 DJ-11 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009 is a Majestic offering of the season!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Some Great 2nd Flush darjeeling teas 2009



Some great 2nd Flush Darjeeling teas 2009:

It has been a very hard and long 1st Flush this year, I must say it was a tough job for me to sustain the same quality level this year but when I get mails of complements and words of satisfaction from our customers, it feels like the job was really well done. Now as the month of May is over and there has been a good amount of rain it’s time for the much awaited 2nd Flush teas, tea samples from many gardens have started coming in and one thing is for sure, and that is all most all the teas in this period will be slightly heavier than usual 2nd Flush teas as we had some heavy showers in the last weeks of May, Anyways talking about great teas I think I should start off by writing about the Thurbo (classic musk) sftgfop-1 EX-9,I`m really thankful to Mr. J.D. Rai ,The Senior Manager and the quality controller of the Goodricke gardens in Darjeeling for making this invoice personally for us, this tea is plucked from selected the pure china bushes of the garden and is fermented and withered very carefully as a result of which the tea has a very shiny purplish bloom, the tea has an extravagant high aroma in the dry leaf state and when steeped for about 4 minutes, this tea gives an absolute smooth muscatel aroma with a mellow after taste, I think tea lovers who enjoyed our last year’s Castleton Muscatel exclusive will enjoy this tea very much.

I also cannot stop myself writing about the Puttabong clonal delight Ex-30 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009, this tea was made exclusively for us only on special request to Mr. Somani (Superintendent of the Puttabong and North Tukvar Tea Estates) and hopefully this tea will not be available with any other vendors around the world as this tea was plucked from pure clonal young AV2 type bushes under the age of 5-6 years, this tea was plucked at the early hours of the morning to maintain the tenderness of this beautiful tea, this tea is made under extreme supervisions of the master tea makes of the Puttabong tea estate, the leaf and shoots are keep untouched as a result of which the tea has a beautiful bold look, the dry leafs also has some extremely delicious aroma and when steeped for about 5 minutes this tea release some very light coppery liquor with very high floral aroma and the after taste that gives a slight hint of white grapes and dry coconuts, this tea will definitely make a great treat for a tea lover.

Finally I have to write about the Castleton Moonlight 2nd Flush 2009, many tea lover customers of ours were upset when we informed them that this tea was not that good in the 1st Flush harvest, the manager of this garden who is also a very good friend of ours tried his best in 1st Flush but he could not satisfy us then, but now when he came with the 1st batch sample of the 2nd Flush Moonlight tea, we were delighted to see this tea as the tea looked extremely wiry and well sorted and even the aroma in the dry leaf state is extremely aromatic, the cup is even better this year as it has rich floral and musk flavour and a very nice lemony after taste…..I think the more I write about this tea its still less as this is simply the best tea for people who enjoy young teas!

We welcome all tea lover to join our tea party ,this 2nd Flush 2009!