Puttabong Organic Moondrops - 1st flush 2012

Puttabong Organic Moondrops -1st flush 2012

This year due to the lack of rainfall during the early 1st flush harvest when almost every garden in Darjeeling produce excellent and high quality teas suffered a draught like situation and production of exclusive teas got really limited. It also became extremely difficult for us to procure the specific and particular teas from the same estate which was available in our list in the previous years. Gardens like Castleton and Margaret`s hope which falls in the kurseong valley of Darjeeling has not been able to show up with something excellent as there has been no rain in this area for the past 5 months. We tasted at least 2 early samples of the Castleton Moonlight and it was simply not up to our satisfaction mark so I kept on calling different tea makers in the area and asked if they could make something as special as Castleton Moonlight like the previous year`s production.
On the 26th of March 2012 I called up the Superintendant of the Puttabong plantation which had already produced a very good batch of tea for us (Puttabong clonal Queen Ex-2) and asked if he could make a very high quality batch of tea for us. He answered us back that he will definitely give it a try. Then on the 27th of March 2012 he had send us this exclusive tea sample.
I was really very happy to see the tea at the first look. It is extremely bold and wiry in appearance and has a large number of unbroken silver tips in the dry leaf state. The dry leafs gives out a very refreshing flowery aroma. This tea should be steeped for complete 3 minutes .The liquor is bright yellowish. Each sip is extremely fruity and reminds of white grapes and leaves a slight sweetness on the palate.

This amazing tea is plucked from the 100% P312 young clonal bushes of this Organic plantation in Darjeeling. We guarantee that a true tea lover will fall in love with this exceptional tea after trying a sip of it. This batch of tea is only available with us and is made on special request and is 100% hand crafted.

Gielle sftgfop-1 clonal Ex-2/ 1st Flush 2012 Darjeeling tea

Gielle sftgfop-1 clonal Ex2/1st Flush 2012 Darjeeling tea.

I am really proud to have this small lot of tea from this beautiful plantation of Darjeeling after 3-4 years in our list of teas. This batch of Darjeeling tea caught my attention when one of my tea taster friend had send me some samples from Teesta Valley Tea Estate and Gielle tea estate to taste and know my opinion regarding these plantation`s harvest. The Teesta Valley tea garden is making some good teas for the last couple of years but I had not seen anything fancy from the Gielle tea estate.

The moment I opened the small sample pouch of this particular batch of tea I simply fell in love with the exotic fruity aroma that came across my nose. The dry leafs of this tea is extremely bright greenish and are large in size. This batch of tea is made from Teesta 7 and P312 clonal leaves. The dry leaves give out some delicious aroma of ripe mangoes and dates. When steeped for about 3.5 minutes this exotic tea gives out thin and bright liquor in the cup. Each sip reminds of rich flavors of exotic fruits and leaves a little sweetness on the palate as an after taste.

A really well made tea of the season but available in a very limited stock!

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!