An Approach to 1st flush 2013 Darjeeling tea

          We are all very excited in the Darjeeling hills to see the winter pass away since the much awaited 1^st flush 2013 crop season is about to start. Last year since the winter started off early so all most all the gardens had to stop their tea production by the 1^st week of December 2012.

          The 1^st flush season for every Darjeeling estates is very important as this harvest fetches them high prices for their quality production. Some of the gardens in the lower portion of Darjeeling hills starts producing their 1^st flush teas by March 1^st week but the teas produced and offered before the mentioned period is mostly mixed leafs from the winter harvest and very small amount of real 1^st flush leafs. For a true 1^st flush harvest every garden has to get rid of the old leafs of winter from their bushes and once the whole section of the plantation gets rid of their old leafs then the real and true 1^st flush harvest starts and we have noticed from last 2 decades that this harvest never starts before 1^st week-2^nd week of March.

         It is slightly warmer now in February in Darjeeling than the month of January and the right temperature difference between day and night for a good 1^st flush crop is about 9-11 degrees Celsius. Teas produced from the lower elevation garden looks more green in colour since the leafs contains more chlorophyll and the teas produced from high elevation are slightly darker is colour and contains lots of silver tips.

         A very good and well made 1^st flush tea should have well twisted greenish leafs and lots of silver tips. The liquor of the tea should be light golden (almost like champagne) colour and the aroma should be tenderly flowery/ fruity and a slight astringency should remain on the palate as an after taste.

   

          We have already started tasting some samples from few low elevation gardens in Darjeeling and personally feel that the true 1^st flush have not started coming yet. As usual we are eagerly waiting for exclusive 1^st flush teas from high elevation and reputed plantations of Darjeeling.

         We request all our valuable tea lover friends who have been blindly trusting us and buying our high quality teas from us from our online store or our retail store in Darjeeling to have patience and wait our list of true and high quality 1^st flush 2013 Darjeeling teas.

          We will inform you all through newsletters and our Face book page.