Sungma clonal delight EX-11 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2008

This is the tea that we had procured at the end of our 2nd Flush 2008 purchase, after we had almost finished with our 2nd Flush 2008 list of teas, this particular tea’s sample happened to reach us through another Darjeeling tea buyer who just could not afford to have this tea due to some financial crisis, when I dropped the leafs on the white foil, I was impressed at first sight seeing its blossom which had an unique blend of red, brown and coppery shades on the leafs which is a sure good sign of a very rich 2nd Flush tea and the aroma that rolled out of the leafs was simply awesome with clear hints of ripe red grapes, when steeped for about 4-5mins the tea gave out an extravagant grape like aroma from the cup and as the tea cooled down, each sip defined a different tea drinking experience and above all the liquor of the tea is also not very dark and the after taste is also very smooth, to be very honest this is one of the crown of 2nd Flush 2008 teas!

Darjeeling tea 2nd Flush 2008: A different experience

Well as I’ve always mentioned in my earlier posts that this year due to the agitation in Darjeeling, it was really difficult to procure the good teas in Darjeeling, especially the early invoice teas, so on the 26th of June I had to leave for Kolkata as one of our very important buyer was supposed to come to India to buy the 2nd Flush teas and on the other side it was clever to go to Kolkata and get the teas direct from the garden’s head offices as during the mid of June Darjeeling town was closed due to the agitation and all the good invoice teas were sent forward to Kolkata for auction and private sales, I would definitely say that it was a “narrow escape” for us to go to Kolkata for the purchase of excellent 2nd Flush teas as there was hardly any choice in the gardens as all the teas were sent forward to Kolkata for sales and sadly many local vendors from Darjeeling had to buy whatever was available at the gardens,I`m not saying they are selling something bad but a tea lover will always find the difference. Anyways, soon our good friend and buyer arrived from Europe and we straightaway headed for the tea tasting sessions, we started with some fine Castleton ftgfop-1 samples which were really good and our friend brought a full line of it some 108kgs, the Puttabong lines were also interesting specially their KKRAMSK lines, we all looked at each other and smiled while tasting these lines as once the superintendent of the Sungma tea estate had claimed that only his garden makes this type of musk but now all Jayshree gardens are claiming the same, coming to Singbulli teas I must admit that the overall average of about 25 teas in the offering for the auctions were fairly good as the teas were much better than their 1st Flush harvest, also very interesting for me was while tasting some Singell tea samples, we always thought that this garden makes some classic Darjeeling teas as they never sold their teas through auctions and rather went for private sales but I was discouraged to see the way the teas were sorted and also the cup was not satisfying at all as the rolling was not properly done, not even in one sample we could find a clean tea so this was the reason I kept all my customers away from these teas. We were very happy to see the Sungma teas, especially the clonals, they were absolutely delicious and we have also brought one lot especially for our mail order clients, I`m sure they will enjoy the Sungma clonal tea very much. There were many other teas that we tasted that I cannot think of at the very moment but it was an overall exciting experience for all of us to attain the Darjeeling tea auction Sale No. 27/2008 and especially our buyer friend was very happy to see how many companies sit together and bid for the teas, in my opinion it is also a test for your tea tasting skills as you will know about your choice when others bid for it, meaning you’ll know exactly how many other seller were ready to buy the tea that you liked the most.

Best of 2nd Flush 2008 Darjeeling teas: Risheehat and Castleton 2nd Flush 2008

Castleton (Muscatel/ftgfop-1/Exclusive) DJ-139: during the period of 2nd Flush this premium plantation of Darjeeling makes some of the finest muscatel teas that most of the tea connoisseurs look upon to, this particular batch rolled out of the garden during the peak harvest season so its termed as “ Exclusive” meaning the best of all the batches of Muscatels made during this harvest period, the dry leafs are small and almost similar in size and are sorted in a very clean manner and that extra shine on the leafs gives that majestic look to the tea, when steeped for around 5 minutes in the hot water, the aroma purely boasts of that extravagant muscatel flavor that rises high above the cup, giving that pleasant, pronounced and matured hints of dry fruits which further ends with a rich flavory after taste.

Risheehat classic musk (sftgfop-1/oolong type) DJ-130: A top of the line pure 2nd Flush oolong style Darjeeling tea having extra-bold unbroken leafs and buds plucked from the highest elevation slopes of the garden, when steeped the cup boasts of that aggressive musk flavor with an extremely sweet after taste that ends with each sip.
A true tea connoisseur’s delight and the tea grower’s pride!

Risheehat (flowery/sftgfop-1clonal) DJ-145: this is a very special and small batch of excellent tea made for us from the youngest bushes of this wonderful plantation of Darjeeling, the dry leafs are totally unbroken and comprises of long unbroken young shoots and buds, when steeped the high floral refreshing aroma rules the cup that ends with a very pronounced fruity after taste that dominates the palate for a long time.

Castleton (Moonlight) DJ-140: this is one of the most popular tea that we had to order due to the high demand from our customers, this tea is plucked from the pure AV-2 type clonal bushes from the highest elevation clonal section of the plantation named “allay”. The tea comprises of atleast 60-70% golden unbroken tips, which is purely hand rolled by expert tea makers of the plantation. The cup is extremely refreshing with pronounce notes of ripe grapes and the after taste that clearly reminds of high quality Darjeeling tea craftsmanship.
A top of the line as usual!

2nd Flush 2008: Present Scenario

It has been really unfortunate for us this 2nd flush season as firstly the monsoon arrived little early this time so it was a bit difficult for us to find the pure and finest 2nd flush teas made from the actual dehydrated leafs, I would request all our customers to keep patience as we actually have procured some of the best 2nd Flush peak season teas but this time the higher grade teas are available in a very limited quantity due to the situation and of coarse the 2nd major reason is that Darjeeling hills have gone for indefinite strikes since 9th of June for the demand of “Gorkhaland”, separate state from West Bengal. Experts say the export markets are suffering a loss of around 45000 US dollars everyday. We are praying and looking forward to the day when this problems ends and things get normal again.

An Approach to 2nd Flush 2008:

We have already entered the 4th week of May and we are looking forward to the world famous Muscatel teas made here in Darjeeling during this period of time, Its been raining since the 1st week of May and we were a bit worried as a good 2nd Flush tea needs dehydrated leafs for that typical muscatel flavor unlike the First Flush Harvest which needs only the fresh and young leafs and shoots for that refreshing flowery aroma, coming back to the 2nd Flush topic we are happy to say that the production level of the gardens are good and the pre-2nd Flush tea samples are clearly showing the upcoming brown/coppery character of the 2nd Flush .
Talking in general, in this particular harvest we need to have a heavier character i.e. a strong cup which also has to be round in taste that should not have any sharpness or bitterness, only this type of cup will give a pronounced honey like aroma from teas made from the clonal bushes and of coarse Muscatel notes from the chinery origin bushes and hence, this would be a perfect 2nd Flush character Darjeeling tea unlike the First Flush where we look for a lighter cup where the floral character gets pronounced and a little briskness that does the frame work as an aftertaste to define the First Flush character. In this period of time we look upon to gardens like Castleton, Margaret`s Hope, Rohini, Namring, Lingia, Chamong etc. meaning garden of medium altitude and not very high, as the medium altitude gardens in Darjeeling makes better Muscatel teas due to the atmospheric temperature and humidly in this period of time. We request our entire respected tea lover to wait patiently so that we can serve them the best teas as usual!

1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2008 – Overall Review

Well its been a very busy and tough 1st Flush crop this year, only after being in Darjeeling through out the year one can understand how tough it has been this year to procure the good teas. Actually in the early March the atmospheric temperatures were very low as a result of which the 1st Flush harvest started at least 9-14 days late, specially high elevation Gardens like Puttabong, Risheehat, Gopaldhara etc. suffered a lot. But again in terms of early production Gardens from Mirik Valley Like Thurbo, Phuguri etc did very well throughout. Specially seeing the Thurbo teas in general I personally think it is one of the best 1st Flush producer this year and on the other side famous gardens like Sungma and Singbulli tea estates which used to be our favorite did not do so well.I must also admit that I have seen some of the best clonals from gardens like Castleton and Thurbo this year, specially talking about the Castleton Moonlight this year it was awesome and all our mail clients were crazy for this tea and the full invoice tea was sold out within 3 weeks, that’s unimaginable for such an expensive tea but of coarse an excellent tea.
Not to forget the “Thurbo Oriental Delight White Tea” this was another surprise for us, within a span of 4-5 days this tea matured like anything and was wholeheartedly accepted by most of our elite customers, even some of the black tea lovers admired this tea, well at the end of the day I must also thank the Thurbo Garden factory assistant Manager Mr. Anil Gurung for this tea, as he did exactly what we wanted for this tea, well let that be our trade secret but I’m also happy that our customers are satisfied. Now we are looking for ward to the 2nd Flush 2008 teas, we hope we will be able to procure excellent teas again… at least we’ll do our very best...

PUSSIMBING Tea Estate 1st Flush 2008 Darjeeling tea / FTGFOP-1 /Organic DJ-1

For last 2 years we had been trying get teas from this wonderful garden of Darjeeling but we were some how not successful enough to get what exactly we wanted from this estate as this is a small garden that produce great Darjeeling black teas and only serve their teas to Premium tea sellers all around the globe and above all this is a Certified Bio-Organic Plantation and has 100% china bushes.
To describe the tea all I can write is that this is simply the best among the finest traditional 1st Flush teas that Darjeeling could conceive this year, this tea is plucked from the pure china origin young bushes and has been sorted very well as a result of which almost all the leafs are of similar size in the tea, the blossom of the tea is very greenish and bright mainly due to the high altitude growth and early harvest factors, when infused the cup gives an extravagant high fruity aroma and an aftertaste that reminds of caramellic,honey and lemony like taste and we are honestly proud to have the 1st invoice of this great plantation. A majestic 1st flush tea for the tea connoisseur