
2018 Temi Estate First Flush Darjeeling, hand rolled special order
I was very excited when my friend and tea mentor Nalin agreed to oversee a special production of Darjeeling first flush tea from Temi Estate in Sikkim. This is a first flush from the orthodox (China) small leaf varietal with the SFTGFOP classification, and it was hand-rolled in the traditional manner, as shown below.
This tea redefines what I understand Darjeeling tea to be. Extremely thick, complete mouth coating reaching deep in the throat. Super clean profile, very refreshing and without any harsh or off tastes. The taste is not loud, but rather subtle and light, with flavours of fruits like mango, fresh apricot, Muscat grape, pineapple, lychee. Very good juicy aftertaste which builds with each additional sip. In fact the mouthfeel, which starts extremely strong, continues to build as well. With the building juiciness and mouthfeel, there is also an enveloping sweet and refreshing crisp aroma which emerges. The body effect begins with intense heating in the face and leads to a very strong feeling of uplift and mood enhancement. Alertness and uplift but without jitteriness or anxiety. Very low bitterness. An absolutely fantastic production and I am sure that the friends I sourced this for will be very pleased. In the end we were able to order 2 kilos of this stunning tea. I am so grateful to Nalin and his whole team at Temi, especially the ladies who worked so hard plucking and rolling!
Recommendation for steeping this tea: 3g/240ml for 3:30 using 95C water.
Step-by-step process (Photos by Nalin)
Finally, we see a thumbs-up from Nalin after tasting this tea!