Tea Emporium - 'Authentic Darjeeling Tea'

Margaret`s Hope ftgfop-1 ch. Exclusive DJ594/ Autumn flush 2011 Darjeeling tea.

2011-12-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

We are really glad to have a wonderful tea from this tea plantation in Darjeeling after a long time in our list of Darjeeling teas. Actually after our friend (Mr.A.Gurung, tea maker) left the plantation in the year 2010 and joined another plantation we lost our interest in this estate`s teas as none of its teas were thrilling us after the new tea maker had joined the garden. Well they made good teas all the way long but the basic style of the teas were not matching our expectations.
As I have mentioned in few of my previous posts that this year about only 20% of the teas of this harvest is original autumn flush teas and rest of the teas being marketed as autumn flush is actually the monsoon or the 3rd flush teas. This happened due to the prolonged rains that lasted till the 10th of November 2011 and also due to cold low temperatures due to which the tea bushes could not generate enough leafs for the autumn flush harvest.
This particular invoice from the Margaret`s hope tea estate is hard withered as a result of which the dry leafs have a slight greenish appearance and has a typical fruity aroma in this state. This tea should be steeped for complete 4 minutes and when strained in a cup it releases bright golden liquor. Each sip is absolutely smooth and fruity and ends with a slightly burnt and musky aftertaste on the palate.
I`m sure this tea will be appreciated by everyone who loves Darjeeling teas!

Thurbo (tippy clonal ) Exclusive Ex-23/Autumn flush 2011

2011-11-27T23:40:00.000-08:00

I am extremely happy to have this particular batch of tea in our list of autumn flush 2011 specially when there is a serious shortage of high quality teas in this season. We had cupped several samples from this plantation in this harvest and to be very honest this plantation produced some good teas when compared to some of the finest plantation in Darjeeling. Most of the clonal tea batches which rolled out after the 10th of November 2011 from this plantation were very nice and I must say that this year the Thurbo plantation has been making good teas right from the early spring to the end of autumn consistently.
Since we are located in Darjeeling and being one of the oldest traders from Darjeeling we share a very good relation with most of the plantation and specially Mr.J.D. Rai (the quality controller/senior manager of the group) had promised us to provide with a very special batch from this plantation and we are really thankful to him for offering us the batch no. EX-23 which is a typical exclusive quality autumn flush 2011 tea.This exclusive batch is plucked from the high elevation clonal fields of the Thurbo plantation.The dry leafs are very well sorted and has a fair amount of silver and golden tips and also releases a very unique ripe mango like aroma in this state. When steeped for complete 4 minutes the cup releases a bright golden/orange liquor.Each sip is extremely fruity and smooth .We assure a 100% quality guarantee for this exclusive tea and can declare this tea as a Tea Emporium signature tea of the season. Do not miss this superb tea!!!

Castleton ftgfop-1 (spl.ch.) autumn Dj442/Autumn flush 2011

2011-11-24T02:03:00.000-08:00

We are really proud to have this tea in our list of autumn flush 2011 teas .We had cupped about 23 invoice samples from this plantation of Darjeeling and have selected this excellent batch. This tea was manufactured on the 14th of November which was actually the second last invoice that rolled out of the garden before it closed for the winters and I was really sad before I came across this batch as most of the samples that we had cupped earlier was either a bit flat in the cup or some had less aroma.
Actually this tea was made perfectly as it stopped raining in Darjeeling after the 10th of November and the leafs had enough time on the bush to dehydrate as a result of which this excellent batch of autumn tea is well withered, rolled and fired. The dry leafs are bright coppery in appearance which is truly a good sign of a perfect autumn tea. The cup has bright liquor which further releases exotic aroma of ripe fruits. Each sip is extremely smooth and finishes with a mellow after taste.
A classic offering of the season!

Balasun china classic sftgfop-1 /DJ 289 autumn flush 2011

2011-11-24T01:42:00.000-08:00

Since the autumn flush 2011 started a bit late this year due to prolonged monsoons in Darjeeling we had a difficult time procuring the perfect Autumnal teas. As I have written in my previous posts that a perfect autumn tea harvest needs dry atmospheric conditions but right through the beginning of the month of November we had frequent rainfall in almost each alternative day, so one had to be very careful while procuring the right teas.
I came across this particular invoice from the Balasun tea estate while I tasted a lot of tea samples from Risheehat, Sungma, Puttabong and Balasun tea estates. The dry leafs are well sorted in this invoice of tea and the leafs are kept slightly large and bold and when this tea is brought near the nose it releases a unique aroma of dry fruits like dates and nuts. The cup is slightly dark and strong than the usual autumn tea and thus makes a perfect breakfast tea. This tea can also be enjoyed with a splash of milk and sugar. I have included this tea in my list as many tea lover friends of ours had suggested us to procure a tea that will suit as a perfect breakfast tea and we assure that everyone will admire this tea.
A perfect tea to start your day at a reasonable price!

Autumn flush Darjeeling tea harvest 2011:

2011-11-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Autumn flush Darjeeling tea harvest 2011:
The Autumn Flush harvest is one of the most important harvest for the tea plantations in Darjeeling which is actually the 4th harvest of the year and not the 3rd harvest mistaken by many. Actually the 3rd harvest or the monsoon harvest which stretches from the month of July- October 2nd week produces huge quantities of teas but the quality is not as good as the 1st or 2nd flush as a result of which these plantations gets a very low price for their crop as compared to 1st or 2nd Flush harvests. This happens due to excess rain and humidity during the monsoons in Darjeeling.
This year the autumn flush 2011 harvest has started slightly late, the original or the peak time autumn flush teas have started coming in from the 1st week of November. We have tasted a lot of tea samples right through the month of October but all the teas harvested during October are mostly pre-autumn teas. This has happened as this year we had a prolonged monsoon season which stretched till the 3rd week of October and we also had 2 major festivals during the month of October for which the plantations were declared closed for the festive season. The climatic temperature is also a major factor for this harvest. There should be a minimum temperature difference of 9-10 degrees Celsius for day and night. The normal temperature in Darjeeling for this harvest is about 18 degrees Celsius during the day and 8-9 degrees Celsius during the night.
A perfect autumn flush tea in dry leaf state should be bright coppery/reddish in appearance. The liquor of the tea should be dark golden in color and the most important factor which should be kept in mind is that each tea from the different garden will have a distinctive aroma of its own but the basic aroma that should be present in all true autumn teas are that it should always have an identical pine like aroma or the smell of dry leafs found in the forests during the winter time.
These are the few important facts about this wonderful Darjeeling tea harvest. Keep visiting us for our exclusive teas and Have a great tea time!

Sungma (ch) Musk sftgfop-1 /Organic DJ-149- 2nd Flush 2011

2011-07-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sungma (ch) Musk sftgfop-1/Organic DJ-149 2nd Flush 2011
This is an exceptional traditional muscatel 2nd Flush tea offered by one of my personal favourite garden in Darjeeling. The Sungma tea estate is an organic plantation situated at the pokriabong area of Darjeeling. This garden has over 70% china origin bushes and 30% of the bushes belongs to the assamica or clonal variety and over the years this plantation has produced some of the finest high quality Darjeeling teas.
I was continuously in touch with the tea makers of this plantation and had pre-booked few of their finest muscatel teas which were yet to be produced right after the 15th of June 2011 which was the peak time for 2nd Flush teas in the pokhriabong valley in Darjeeling. I tasted a lot of muscatel teas from various plantations like Pussimbing, Lingia, Singbulli, Castleton etc, but as all my respected customers know that our expectations are very high from the gardens that fulfill our orders. I had very high expectations specially from the Castleton tea estate for their Castleton Muscatel tea but somehow it did not come out to our expectations so we just brought the Castleton moonlight tea from them which is very good, but here we were looking for a very high quality traditional muscatel 2nd flush tea. So we were offered about 5 top end muscatel samples from the Sungma tea estate and to be very honest all were exceptional, so we brought about 600 kgs of muscatel Sungma tea this 2nd flush season and we are offering the invoice no.DJ149 for our consumer customers, I will not be able to mention the other 5 invoice numbers that we brought from Sungma as we have exported these exceptional teas to some of our wholesale merchant customers around the world …….
Our final verdict for this tea is that this is simply one of the finest muscatel tea that will surely satisfy a true tea lover and I`m really proud to have this fantastic tea in our list of 2nd Flush 2011.

Risheehat (ch)Musk sftgfop-1-DJ142/Organic 2nd Flush 2011

2011-07-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Risheehat (ch.) musk sftgfop-1 DJ-142 /Organic 2nd Flush 2011:
This is a very fine quality Darjeeling Muscatel variety 2nd Flush tea that was offered to us by the Superintendant of the garden, actually we wanted to have a very good invoice of Risheehat clonal Flowery in our list but we were not very happy with the clonal teas from this estate ,especially after having the Turzum clonal delight sftgfop-1/DJ19-Organic ,the standards and the expectations were very high,so we rejected various clonal invoice samples from this estate this season.
On the 20th of June 2011 we received this excellent sample of Risheehat (ch)musk sftgfop-1/Organic –Dj142 and indeed we are very happy to have this wonderful tea in our list, this tea has been plucked from the “Liza Hill” sub-division of the garden from the purest china origin bushes of the garden,the dry leafs are sorted small in size and has a typical Almond like aroma in the dry leaf state, for best results this tea should be steeped for complete 5 minutes. The cup gives out a dark/bright golden color with exotic flavours of flowers like Rhododendrons and marigold and ends with a very balanced briskness with a hint of musk.
Our final verdict for this tea is that this is an exceptional tea made extremely affordable for all!

Turzum sftgfop-1 clonal delight/DJ-19 2nd Flush 2011

2011-06-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

Turzum clonal delight sftgfop-1/organic Dj19/2nd Flush 2011

I`m personally very proud and happy to have an exotic and traditional Muscatel Darjeeling tea like this one in our list of 2nd Flush 2011 teas, we were regularly in touch with Mr.Jha (Superintendant, Sungma and Turzum Tea Estate) from the end of April 2011.I was personally very upset about their 1st flush teas as all the teas that we had sampled from their 1st flush harvest were not up to our satisfaction mark and a lot of our customers were waiting for a super quality tea from them. Actually they could not maintain the same quality mark in the 1st Flush Harvest like last year as this garden is situated in the pokriabong area of Darjeeling district which suffered a very draught like situation from the beginning of this year but as the month of May passed away heavy rainfall occurred in this area and once again we saw massive quality improvements in their teas.
As soon as the 2nd Flush started Mr.Jha continuous send us samples and we selected the DJ 19 Batch as this tea is simply perfect with rich 2nd Flush character, this tea is plucked from pure and dehydrated (best 2nd Flush muscatels are made from the most dehydrated leafs and shoots) BB157 clonal bushes, the dry leafs are well shorted and rolled and has a very unique aroma of cardamoms and ripe oranges in this state, when steeped for complete 5 minutes this tea releases a dark golden liquor in the cup with flavors of spices, sandalwood and fresh fruits which further ends with a pronounced hint of muscatel flavor on the palate followed by an unique sweetness.
Our final verdict for this tea is that this tea is simply “EXCELLENT” and if you have not tried this batch then you have not tasted the best of 2nd Flush 2011 Darjeeling teas.

Casleton Moonlight DJ146/2nd Flush 2011

2011-06-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

Once again we have been able to procure the best of the Moonlight tea from the world famous Castleton tea estate, this exclusive tea has been plucked from the highest elevation “allay” section of the garden which is about 3500 feet high altitude during the early hours of the morning to achieve the maximum high quality leaves, then this exclusive tea is withered for about 48 hours and then it is hand rolled by 15 women workers of the garden as a result of which the dry leaves are filled with wire like silver tips, the made tea has a beautiful appearance and when this tea is brought near the nose the dry leaves gives out a very fruity aroma of pine apples and chocolates. When this tea is steeped for complete 5 minutes, the cup gives out a bright golden color and a blast of exotic flavors rise high above the cup, each sip in the cup reminds of fresh fruits,roses and chocolates and has an extremely smooth finish.
A well crafted exotic tea of the season!

Thurbo (summer delight) 2nd Flush 2011 Darjeeling tea!

2011-06-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

After the grand success of Thurbo (spring delight) Ex-1 / 1st flush 2011 I was pretty worried about a tea of this category in the 2nd Flush harvest, everyone who ordered Thurbo spring delight 1st flush from us have really appreciated the wonderful tea and I have received numerous amount of e-mails from many of my respected customers demanding a great tea of similar quality in the 2nd Flush, this was a serious challenge for me, I was in constant touch with Mr.J.D.Rai (quality controller and head of Goodricke group of Gardens in Darjeeling) all throughout the month of May when the dormant period was going on in Darjeeling and we did a lot of experiments with their clonal tea leafs like AV2,P312 and T4 ,finally on the end of 2nd week of June I received the sample of this wonderful tea and I was really thrilled to make a cup for myself, the dry leaf is well twisted and clean sorted and consists of needle like tiny golden tips, when steeped for about four minutes the tea release a matured fruity aroma which further ends with a rose like after taste and the best thing I`m noticing in this tea is that its maturing everyday and the flavours are just getting better each day,All I can say about this tea is that if you have tried our 1st Flush offering Thurbo (spring delight) then you`ll just fall in love with this tea!

Arrival of 2nd Flush 2011 Darjeeling teas

2011-06-06T02:53:00.000-07:00

Arrival of 2nd Flush 2011 Darjeeling teas:
The 2nd Flush Harvest has finally started in Darjeeling, in this period of time Darjeeling hits a temperature of 25- 30 degrees Celsius during the day time and 15-20 degree Celsius at night. In this harvest the best teas are made from the most dehydrated leafs and shoots and unlike the 1st Flush the color of the dry made tea is coppery brown. The taste of a good 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea should be fully matured and rich with a lingering after taste. This is one of the most important harvest period for the tea industry in Darjeeling and it lasts for a very limited time and each tea gardens needs a seriously expert tea maker to make very good teas without wasting any green leafs.
The best 2nd Flush teas are often produced in the Mirik Valley and Kurseong area of Darjeeling district,this is the time when the world famous Muscatel character gets pronounced in Darjeeling teas.

Dooteriah DJ-11 and Kalej Valley DJ-5 / 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2011

2011-04-10T23:48:00.001-07:00

Dooteriah Dj-11 and Kalej Valley Dj-5/ 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2011:

The Dooteriah and Kalej Valley tea gardens in Darjeeling belongs to the Alchemist group of India, these gardens have old traditional china bushes over 120 years old in age. This year I planned to change my selections in the china (traditional variety) category as the rising demand in premium teas are mostly inclined to the clonal teas(young teas),I have done a thorough research and found out that mostly people are moving out from the china varietal because china variety teas are mostly astringent and sometimes bitter because tea planters in Darjeeling follow the traditional way to manufacture these teas, mainly when these teas are put in the roller and if the leaves are pressed hard then the teas turn slightly bitter as they mature after the manufacture, so I discussed these important points with different managers of several tea gardens and choose these 2 unique tea gardens in Darjeeling since the General Manager of these plantation (Mr.Y.S.Gurung) is very close to our family and he has also helped me a lot with the tea lessons in the past.
The manufactured teas from both the plantations turned out to be perfect as we had expected, fruity, light and mellow and I’m sure every tea lover will enjoy these teas and above all I personally think these 2 teas are true value for money.

2011-04-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

1st Flush 2011 Darjeeling tea -Barnesbeg Clonal Tips EX-1

2011-04-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

1st Flush 2011 Darjeeling tea -Barnesbeg Clonal Tips EX-1 :

This exceptional clonal young tea caught my eyes when Mr.M.Pradhan (Manager) of Barnesbeg Tea Estate in Darjeeling offered me a sample of the 1st ever manufactured tea of their 100% young and pure AV2 clonal bushes which was planted 5 years ago in an area which has an altitude of 2500 feet from the sea level, the made tea is extremely tender and young and consists of full size silver tips, due to the tenderness of the raw leaves the manufactured tea is well rolled and sorted, this tea can be multiple steeped for at least 3 -4 times and each time the tea shows a different character in the cup, extremely fruity cup that finishes with a slight nutty and rosy after taste, This extremely limited quantity tea can also be enjoyed by white tea lovers.

Arrival of 1st Flush 2011

2011-04-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Arrival of 1st flush 2011 Darjeeling tea:

The 1st Flush harvest of 2011 looked very positive from the month of January` 2011, at the end of January we witnessed a very beautiful snowfall in Darjeeling and it rained at regular intervals throughout the month of February which was surely a great sign for a very good harvest, we also saw some gardens doing experiments with the leafs that they received in the winter months and making some white and oolong teas with it. The most interesting part of the starting of 1st flush was the end of February when the difference between the day and night temperature was about 8-10 degrees Celsius which was simply perfect for the harvest. We were just gearing up for the next big crop season when the unpredicted situation just happened, an “Embargo “was slapped on the 1st flush crop from the 3rd of March 2011 and the dispatch of the manufactured teas were stopped being dispatched from the gardens, this happened as the trade unions demanded a major hike in the wages of the working labours.In this period of time we received a lot of samples from the gardens and did a lot of tea tastings but I had to change my whole style of tea buying as it was pretty risky to buy a tea from a certain garden and wait for a month for its dispatch , as the gardens of Darjeeling are full of moisture and it was very hard to predict what will happen to the teas in its warehouses, so I decided to buy the teas produced after the Embargo was lifted ,so my first offer is Thurbo (spring delight) Ex-1,I hope as usual everyone will like this tea, we will have more exclusive teas to offer in coming weeks, so keep visiting and enjoy good tea!

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2011-01-31T02:05:00.000-08:00

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Darjeeling Tea: Autumn flush 2010

2010-11-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

Darjeeling Tea: Autumn flush 2010

The autumn flush Darjeeling tea harvest started a bit late this year , we had predicted that this year the harvest will start earlier than the past few year`s harvest since the atmospheric temperatures were dropping down every day by 1-2 degrees Celsius but during the last weeks of October it rained very hard in Darjeeling as a result of which a lot of crop was damaged as during the rains the finish product (made tea) has a darker color and a less flavor and a proper autumn flush tea should have a high flavor and a bright liquor. So we had to do a very careful selection this time since we have already catered teas like Turzum clonal flowery, Puttabong Queen and Singbulli in the 1st Flush harvest and excellent teas like the Turzum clonal delight, Gopaldhara wonder tea and Sungma organic musk in the 2nd flush.These teas have already made a reputation of its own in the hearts of the tea lovers, so keeping this in mind I decided to go for a short list of teas which would be simple and value for money for our most valuable customers since we already have great teas in our list from 1st and 2nd flush so I took a firm decision to keep a simple list of good teas in my list during this Autumn flush 2010 harvest. So I started with the Balasun sftgfop-1 classic Dj311 which is a very nice tea plucked from pure china bushes, this tea has a very rich flavor in the dry leaf state and has a fairly strong cup which fits a good cup of breakfast tea and can also be enjoyed with a splash of milk and sugar. The next tea that I was looking for had to be a tea with a light liquor and a fruity flavor as I have always tried to keep all the teas in my list to be completely different from each other, so I chose the Risheehat classic Autumn sftgfop-1/Organic Dj493, this tea has a very bright liquor with a very flowery and fruity flavor and has an overall smooth character in the cup. After these two great teas I had to look for something special which would be a great treat for a tea lover so here comes a very special tea from one of my favorite plantation in Darjeeling, it’s the Sungma Organic Autumn musk sftgfop-1 DJ276, its a classic muscatel tea plucked from pure china bushes which are upto 125 years old in age, the cup gives a very unique fruity and herb like flavor and ends with a nice muscatel taste on the palate, I recommend this tea as a perfect afternoon tea and I`m sure it will be highly praised by the tea lovers. The last tea in my list is something very unusual; it’s a Darjeeling green tea which has been well made by the tea makers of the plantation, it had already made a reputation of its own in our list of teas offered last year, it’s the Rohini Emerald (Green Tea) PP-18, this tea is plucked from very young P312 clonal bushes of the plantation, the liquor of the tea turns green in the cup so its named Emerald, this excellent green tea gives out a rich fruity and flowery flavor from the cup and ends with an unique sweetness,i`m very happy to have this fine tea in the list.
I invite all Darjeeling tea lovers to join our autumn flush 2010 tea party and I hope as usual I`ll be able to satisfy all palates.

An approach to autumn flush 2010

2010-10-09T02:06:00.001-07:00

An approach to Autumn Flush 2010:

The Monsoon has finally ended in Darjeeling and we are enjoying some fine sunshine here and its getting cold each day. It is also a sign of relief for the Darjeeling Tea industry as during the monsoon season better known as the “Rains” the growth of the leafs are not under control so the quality of the teas are comparatively poor as a result of which the gardens fetch a very low price for their produce compared the 1st, 2nd and autumn flush. There are several factors which are involved to produce very good autumn teas, actually the autumn harvest is a character which passes over after the long monsoon flush and ends at the end of November and is actually not an individual harvest like the 1st and the 2nd flush. The teas produced in this harvest can be equally good as the 1st and the 2nd Flush, the right atmospheric temperature for this harvest should have a minimum difference of 7-9 degrees Celsius between day and night, the content of tips or Buds are less in this harvest and most of the good teas in this harvest do not have an attractive ornamental value and mostly look dehydrated.
Well these are few important factors required for making good autumn flush Darjeeling teas, there has been a shortage of at least 10-15% of the total annual production of Darjeeling teas this year due to several natural problems like uncertain rains, draught etc.so there is a serious shortage of good Darjeeling teas in the world market. We have already started tasting samples from various plantation in Darjeeling and as usual we will soon come up with the large list of exotic autumn Flush 2010 teas.So keep visiting 

Gopaldhara Wonder Tea WT-17 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010:

2010-07-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

Gopaldhara Wonder Tea WT-17 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010:

We are really lucky and happy to have this tea in our list since we were waiting for the Castleton Moonlight 2nd flush tea but none of the samples could meet our satisfaction level, we tried various “Tippy clonal” and “Moonlight” samples from Castleton tea estate this year but none of the teas could compete with past two year’s moonlight tea which people really appreciated in the past, we were also sad as we were among the first ones to market this tea but I personally believe that at the end of the day people will appreciate a cup of good tea and not the garden or a type of tea, so this year its simply NO – NO Castleton Moonlight and to be honest I would not even have the tea in my list for even half the price of what we use to pay in the past. Anyways I’m really happy that this year I got this Gopaldhara Wonder Tea WT-17 2nd Flush 2010 , this tea is plucked from an altitude of 3200 feet from young AV2 and P312 clonal bushes of the plantation, the dry leafs are well twisted and has a very fruity aroma in this state and consists of long unbroken golden tips, when steeped for complete 5 minutes the dry leafs opens up very beautifully giving out a delicious aroma of ripe mangoes, each sip in the cup gives out clear hints of fresh fruits and chocolates and ends on the palate with a unique honey like after taste.
We recommend all tea lovers to try this tea and we assure a 100% quality satistfaction guarantee for this tea

Turzum sftgfop-1 clonal delight DJ 23 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

2010-06-30T22:56:00.002-07:00

Turzum sftgfop-1 clonal delight DJ 23 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010:

The 2nd Flush harvest started a little late in few of the gardens in Darjeeling, so we were eagerly waiting for some of the finest teas that this harvest could offer us. On the 27th of June 2010 the Superintendent of the Sungma and Risheehat Plantation (Mr. Jha) gave us a call saying that he had made the finest batch of 2nd Flush tea of the year and suggested us not to wait for more if we wanted to have the best as usual. Actually we were also waiting for some good muscatel teas from Gardens like Castleton and Risheehat but when we received the sample of Turzum sftgfop-1 clonal delight /Organic Dj23 of 2nd Flush 2010 we were absolutely satisfied with what was offered to us, this particular batch of tea is simply very classic and traditional Darjeeling 2nd Flush tea and to be very honest we have seen this type of typical traditional 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea after a long time. The most difficult part for procuring this tea was that the marketing department of this garden had offered this tea for a open bid among the finest Darjeeling tea buyers around the world, renowned merchants from all over the globe were invited to place a bid for this wonderful gem of a tea ,somehow we were lucky to have this batch as one of the biggest Japanese buyer placed his bid a little late and of coarse we also achieved this tea as because we share a very friendly relationship with most of the Managers and owners of the plantations in Darjeeling. This tea has already made a stand of its own in the Darjeeling tea market since last year, the most attractive thing about this tea is that it has a beautiful ornamental value as the dry leafs are well twisted and consists of long unbroken golden tips ,the dry leafs gives out some very unique flavor of typical Indian spices which is very rare to find in any other Darjeeling teas, when steeped for about 5 minutes the tea gives out a pretty bright reddish liquor in the cup , each sip in the cup gives clear hints of fresh roses, almonds and spices like cloves and ends on the palate with a very unique classic muscatel flavor . I would rather call this tea a complete package of 2nd flush exclusive teas. A tea which cannot be further replicated. In fact the best among all Darjeeling 2nd Flush teas

Sungma musk sftgfop-1 DJ-116 and Balasun sftgfop-1 china classic Dj-87 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

2010-06-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

Sungma musk sftgfop-1 DJ-116 and Balasun sftgfop-1 china classic Dj-87 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

After a grand success with our list of 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling teas the expectation for great teas in 2nd Flush 2010 harvest is even higher. We have tasted a lot of newly manufactured teas from various plantation of Darjeeling and can say at the moment that its mostly pre-2nd Flush teas that has been made at this point of time as the teas from most of the plantation is slightly astringent in cup, there has been some good signs of 2nd flush harvest in the Pokriabong area of Darjeeling in gardens like Avongrove and Sungma.We have also seen some clear hints of 2nd Flush in gardens like Margaret’s Hope and Balasun which is situated in Sonada area of Darjeeling. The 2nd Flush harvest is slightly late in Kurseong area of Darjeeling where famous gardens like Castleton, Makaibari, Ambootia, Jungpana and Rohini is situated. We are expecting that 2nd Flush harvest will start in Kurseong after the 15th of June 2010.
Well after tasting about 40 samples of this premium harvest we have come across 2 excellent teas from Sungma and Balasun tea gardens in Darjeeling which belongs to the Jayshree group. On the 3rd of June Mr. Jha (the superintendent of Sungma, Risheehat and Balasun Tea gardens) had send us a number of samples and out of about 10 samples we choose the Sungma sftgfop-1 organic musk DJ 116 and Balasun sftgfop-1 china classic DJ87. The Sungma sftgfop-1 organic musk DJ116 is an extremely well made tea which has a well sorted and twisted leafs, the aroma from the dry leafs is simply excellent, when steeped for about 5 minutes the cup gives out a very fruity flavor, each sip in the cup gives pronounced notes of grapes and sandal wood and the typical Muscatel character is highly present in this tea.
The Balasun china classic sftgfop-1 DJ87 is another classic Darjeeling 2nd Flush tea, the dry leafs are smaller in size and has a very fruity and chocolate like flavor in the dry leaf state, when steeped for about 5 minutes the tea gives out a rich fruity flavor with musky notes that finishes with slight briskness on the palate. Both the teas are offered at highly affordable prices and we will have more classic muscatel 2nd Flush teas in our list of 2nd flush 2010 Darjeeling teas. So keep visiting our site for more!

An Approach to 2nd Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea 2010

2010-05-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

An Approach to 2nd Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea:

After a grand success in 1st Flush harvest we are really looking forward towards the 2nd Flush harvest of 2010, this year during the 1st Flush harvest we suffered a lot due to the draught but I never gave up and no body can claim that we had come up with some under rated teas but as usual the best teas are available in our list of selections and I’m glad to announce that we had no competition in the quality tea field as I’m really proud to say that most people now do understand the early harvest factor and the late harvest factor and they really do not get carried away as before by just the same name ( eg Puttabong Queen) and the price factor, anyways coming back to the 2nd Flush harvest of 2010 I must say that we are having a very favorable climatic conditions so far, its been raining till the end of 3rd week of May and its getting dry from the starting day of the 4th week of May which is really a very good sign.
The best 2nd Flush teas are made from the most dehydrated leafs and shoots (in local language we call it the “Kakra”) unlike the 1st Flush where the best teas are made from the most tender leafs and shoots, In 2nd Flush the world famous Muscatel character takes place which is often compared with the Muscat grapes or Muscat wine by the Tea connoisseurs around the world. A very good 2nd Flush tea should have a typical muscatel flavour and coppery liquor in the cup. The most important factor about the 2nd Flush harvest is that it takes place between the last weeks of May- last week of June but the best 2nd Flush teas are made during the end of 1st week of June- end of 2nd week of June, hence the tea makers just get 1 week-10 days time to make the best teas in individual tea gardens in Darjeeling and each garden can make only 10-20 invoices of pure 2nd Flush (approx. 2500kgs) and the rest are pre-2nd Flush crop or post-2nd Flush crop.
We have already started tasting various samples from different plantation in Darjeeling and to be honest as usual I will not disclose which teas I’ll come up with as I’ve often seen that various online vendors tends to follow what we procure and offer, I really doubt if they really understand what they are offering…..anyways if you have enjoyed our 1st Flush selections of this year then please keep visiting our website and we promise you that we will come up with simply the best teas which will be true value for your money….Have a great tea time!

Dooteriah white delight Dj50 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

2010-04-19T01:46:00.001-07:00

Dooteriah white delight Dj50 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

This premium Darjeeling White tea is simply the best white tea made in this harvest, this tea is plucked from pure AV2 and T78 young clonal bushes of the garden at the early hours of the morning when the dew drops are still present on the 2 leaf and a bud to maintain the tenderness of the leaf quality, then the raw leaves are treated with cold air on the withering bed for 48 hours which gives the tea an extra bright greenish look and then the tea is hand rolled in silk cloth to keep the 2 leaf and a bud look intact and the tea is further sent for the firing process, this tea is further sorted by 8-12 women sorters very carefully to remove any unwanted particles from this made tea as a result of which this tea is extremely clean without any dust particles or any type of stalks, when this tea is steeped for about 4 minutes the cup gives out a very bright greenish liquor which is a very good sign of a true white tea, the aroma of the tea is well defined and is rather traditional as raw hints of flowers like Rhododendrons and Marigold can be clearly felt over the cup, each sip in the cup is simply awesome as the cup is extremely mellow, the floral characters just moves around the palate leaving some vegetal notes as an after taste.
The Best Darjeeling White tea ever made which can definitely beat any Darjeeling white teas like the Arya Pearl, Okayti silver tips or the Phoobshering White tea and can give a stiff competition to any high quality Chinese white and green teas.

Turzum DJ-1 sftgfop-1 clonal flowery 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea

2010-04-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

Turzum (Sungma) sftgfop-1 clonal flowery /Organic Darjeeling tea 2010:

This 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea harvest has been a hard one, where all other merchants and exporters of Darjeeling teas are literally crying for high quality teas as there is a serious crunch for good quality teas, I’ve been lucky enough as my hard work has been paying off smoothly, I had booked an invoice of Turzum some 20 days back hoping that we will be able to get the same quality label tea as last year ,(Turzum is a organic division of the Sungma plantation in Darjeeling which mainly consists of BB157 clonal bushes and Camellia Assamica bushes) , But seeing the harvest conditions this year I was not sure if we will get anything serious from this garden on time as Sungma and Turzum is a late starter in1st Flush harvest, so on the 3rd of April Mr. Jha (Superintendent of Sungma,Risheehat and Balasun Tea Estates) gave me a call that the 1st invoice of Turzum was ready and a sample was sent to me, Mr. Jha is also a very popular figure in the Darjeeling tea industry for his excellent tea making art and I was sure that ,to get his 1st invoice that’s DJ-1 will not be easy as at least top 50 buyers from all around the world will bid for this tea….. Sungma tea estate is located in Pokriabong valley of Darjeeling district and is just one and a half hour drive from our retail outlet, so finally the sample arrived and yes the tea is extremely good ,very well twisted and lots of silver tips in it, so we immediately steeped the tea and the cup also gave a very good result, really very fruity tea without any bitterness,so after few hours of intense bidding we finally got the tea and I`m really proud of 2 things and that is DJ-1 its an honour and secondly the sample of the tea was catered to selected premium buyers only,and we were among the few of their premium buyers who were catered with this premium tea sample,all I can say about this tea is that this tea is a true nectar of the nature and cannot be further replicated this 1st Flush 2010 harvest.

Singbulli sftgfop-1 ch Dj-28 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

2010-04-01T03:04:00.000-07:00

Singbulli sftgfop-1 ch. DJ-28 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010:

As days passed away the temperature is rising in Darjeeling and still not enough rain to boost some fresh new leaves to have enough good teas in the market, the early premium 1st Flush harvest season is already over and we have successfully procured early season teas like the Thurbo White delight Ex-1, Castleton Moonlight Ex-1 and Puttabong/Organic Queen sftgfop-1 Dj-5, tea lovers all around the world who have ordered these teas have really appreciated teas, actually the early 1st Flush harvest starts from the 2nd week of March to the maximum last week of March , as soon as the pre-summers i.e. temperatures over 28 degrees Celsius hits the harvest the leafs and the shoots starts getting dehydrated and as more temperature rises the harvest moves towards the dormant period. Now it was a real challenge for us to get a tea which was good and which could stand along the list of other excellent teas that were offered in our list of 1st Flush 2010 teas, this was the category where the tea had to be good but also had to be affordable, I tried various plantation like Goomtee, Jungpana, Giddapahar etc. but nothing was taking my breath away…..well talking about Giddapahar I have never tasted anything fantastic from this plantation but when I read other`s reviews I always thought those were the teas which I missed to taste (well many do not give the DJ No./Invoice no.), so this year I personally visited the garden on the 28th of March`2010, the owner Mr. Shudhansu was really kind enough to welcome us and offer all the 7 invoices samples of the 1st Flush 2010 of his garden Giddapahar T.E. I tasted from the very 1st invoice to the 7th invoice and 1 particular thing I can say about this garden is that all the teas were high fired and had relatively blackish appearance which is not a very good sign of a good quality 1st Flush tea, I was surprised that if the very 1st invoices of the garden was of this character then people must be marketing this high fired character as muscatels and so on….but this is no muscatel character,well we will have to discuss more on this in this coming 2nd Flush, but all I can say is that this garden is a standard garden which makes nice Darjeeling teas but not the best ,I also tried their Giddapahar Ex-1 and Ex-2, they had named this tea as some china delight /china spl. Or something which I don’t remember and claimed these teas as their best of the season but I had already seen and brought some of the finest in the Darjeeling tea 2010 harvest so my expectations were very high, well I do not want to comment on these teas anymore but can only say one thing that if you see someone comparing these invoices from this garden with any of the Puttabongs and Castletons etc. then please give us an opportunity by ordering a small quantity and compare for yourself that what you had been missing when you expected to order high end Darjeeling teas and ended being recommended mid –class teas by new vendors in the trade…..Well lets come straight to the point that I wanted a good tea that was equally high quality but would be affordable for all, my all time favorite gardens in this category was Balasun T.E. and Barnesbeg T.E. I had had to decline both the teas as one was over priced and one was high fired tea and the manager tried to sell us this tea as a good flavoury 1st Flush tea but I know the definition of flavor in Darjeeling tea and a high fire smell….I was really getting upset as I just couldn’t get anything to complete the list and so much responsibility was there on my shoulders, I was literally getting bombarded by e-mails from various tea merchants around the world, so on the 30th of March`10 I got a call from Mr. Parekh (factory assistant Manager of Singbulli Tea Estate) that a very nice china line invoice was ready and he was sending me the sample and as usual I had very less time in hand to make a decision, Singbulli tea estate is situated in the Mirik Valley in Darjeeling district and is just two and a half hours drive away from my retail-outlet, so I finally received few samples and choose the Singbulli Dj-28 sftgfop-1 china to be in my list as this tea was from the mid harvest of 1st Flush 2010 but still had that greenish appearance and had a really refreshing aroma in both the dry leaf state and the cup.Well I`m satisfied with this tea and I hope you`ll also like it,so please come and discover Singbulli sftgfop-1ch. Dj-28 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010

Great New 1st Flush darjeeling teas 2010

2010-03-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

Great New 1st Flush Darjeeling teas 2010:

As I’ve posted on my last blog that the 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010 harvest started a bit slow this year due to low temperatures and less rainfall, its been really difficult to choose the right teas as I simply cannot have any normal quality teas on my tea list but have a huge responsibility on my shoulders to choose the right and excellent teas to sustain our presence in the world of Exclusive Darjeeling teas, I have been tasting a lot of new teas from various plantation of Darjeeling and till the 18th of March I’ve rejected at least 25 teas from various plantation, On the other side I also have in mind that if the last few days of the month of March goes away then we will lose the fine and tenderness of early season teas so I have been constantly in touch with the finest tea makers in Darjeeling, on the evening of 18th March I got a call from Mr. Somani (the superintendent of Puttabong Plantation) saying that his 1st batch of Clonal Queen is ready and a sample has been sent to us but I have to answer back by half an hour if I want the tea as many overseas buyers were waiting for this first lot ,some had already reached their head office in Kolkata , India all the way from Europe and Japan. Well the sample simply reached me by 20 minutes after his call as Puttabong plantation is just 5 kilometers away from our establishment in Darjeeling, as soon as I opened the sample packet I almost fell down! As this was exactly what I was looking for… may be better than my expectations, Mr. Somani has done a magic to this particular lot and I must say he knows his job very well, even in this scarce weather conditions he has made a tea which is very well sorted and has a very wiry look, the leafs are well withered too which makes the tea look and smell very tender, as a result of which the cup is also very bright and each sip in the cup leaves a very fruity taste on the palate which further ends with a very sweet and creamy finish.
Well all I can say about this tea is that this is Puttabong sftgfop-1 clonal Queen Dj-5 and if you have not tasted this tea then you have tasted nothing better than this in the harvest of 1st Flush 2010 and I`m very proud that I have somehow been able to procure this tea and make it available for extreme Darjeeling tea lovers.
Just after procuring the Puttabong tea I got a call from Mr. Mukhia (Manager of Castleton Tea Garden) that the 1st lot of the famous Castleton Moonlight was ready and a sample was sent to us, I was literally dying to taste it as after procuring the Puttabong Dj-5 Queen my excitement was over my head and the expectations were also very high so finally the very next day we received the sample and WOW! This was another beauty we received after long days of hunt for good teas and I wish I could pour my frustrations on someone prior from receiving these tea samples, as I have never struggled earlier like this year in my tea career for good teas, the dry leaf appearance of this tea is very tippy and greenish as this tea is plucked from 100% AV2 young clonal bushes of this excellent tea garden, this tea is actually plucked from the “Allay” section of the garden from tea bushes which are below the age of 6 years so the tenderness of the tea is even more prominent ,the cup is slightly golden in liquor and has a very unique fruity and flowery aroma, each sip in the cup reminds of fresh tender fruits and leaves a slight muscatel hint on the palate as an after taste, a great tea indeed and this tea is Castleton Moonlight Ex-1 Darjeeling tea 2010.
I must say I’ve been very lucky this year to get the finest early season 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling teas which are true value for money, We invite all tea lovers and join our tea party this 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea harvest.

1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2010 : Thurbo White Delight Ex-1

2010-03-13T21:59:00.000-08:00

The 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling tea harvest season has finally started; the harvest season has started a bit late year due to prolonged cold winters and less rainfall, we have been tasting a lot of samples from gardens like North Tukvar, Namring, Rohini, Jungpana etc. but till the end of 1st week of March all the teas looked and cupped like very initial teas meaning a hint of winter leaf character could be felt in each of the teas, well I don’t want to mention the invoice nos. of the teas I tasted and rejected as someone has/will buy these teas. I’m in a constant contact with many gardens in Darjeeling and samples are just popping in every day, out of which some are good and some are going towards being good after a couple of invoices. Actually to get a pure and good first flush the tea makers in the garden have to remove the old leafs from the bushes by constantly plucking them away from the tea bushes and we have seen that after a round of 3-5 plucking cycles the bushes give out pure character in 1st Flush harvest.
On the 12th of March`2010 Mr. J.D.Rai (the senior quality controller of Goodricke group) gave me a call that a small batch of young white tea was made and the sample would be send to me by the evening. He also mentioned that the same sample was sent to some of their overseas buyers but I was the only one from Darjeeling to receive the sample as Mr. Rai who is also one of the best tea planters in Darjeeling always tries to promote his special teas through vendors and exporters who could reach his teas to the finest tea connoisseurs around the globe , as I have mentioned in few of my blogs earlier that I’m really proud to be a part of the Tea Emporium team as because of the brand name and reputation of this company over many years , we get the opportunity to cater the finest and magical teas to the best of tea connoisseurs around the world. Finally after a strong bidding we are able to get the this extra-ordinary tea, this tea is actually made from pure young clonal bushes under the age of 5 years which makes the tea extremely tender and flowery, the dry leafs have an extremely wiry appearance and is filled with young shoots and silver buds. There are 3 types of clones in this tea i.e.AV2 which brings a ripe mango like taste in the tea, P312 clone which makes this tea extremely fruity and flowery and T4 which is Thurbo tea garden`s own clone which creates a spicy character on the palate as an after taste. Lastly all I can say about this tea is that this tea is simply one of the finest offering that one will witness this 1st Flush 2010 harvest and I truly believe that a similar white tea of this standard cannot made again in this year. We have decided to cater this tea through our website and not export in bulk as we would like this tea to reach the true tea connoisseurs around the world and make a statement for itself.

Sungma sftgfop-1 Autumn Musk DJ-465 Darjeeling tea Autumn Flush 2009

2009-11-27T04:17:00.000-08:00

Sungma / Organic sftgfop-1 Autumn musk Dj-465 Autumn Flush 2009

This tea was specially made for us by Mr. Jha (Superintendent, Sungma Tea Estate ) on the last week of November`09 when we were about to complete the list for Autumn Flush 2009, actually we had received a lot of samples this Autumn from this organic plantation, I must say almost all of their teas were good but whatever we tried was nearly good but not excellent and though tea is a natural agricultural product which is simply dependant on the nature but we try our best to get the best tea each season and as everybody in the industry knows we do not compromise with the quality of the teas in our list at any cost, so Mr. Jha promised me that he will make an excellent invoice of tea for me as soon as he gets the best of leafs from his garden, so on the 27th of November`09 he had send us a couple of samples from Turzum (a sub-division of the Sungma plantation) which was a clonal tea and ofcoarse the Sungma Dj-465 which is a china variety muscatel tea, we tasted both the teas but I was carried away by the Sungma sftgfop-1 Autumn musk Dj-465 teas as the leafs were fully coppery and had an extremely muscatel and herb like flavor in the dry leaf state, when we first steeped the tea I was shaken by the extreme high muscatel flavor that simply jumped out from the cup with an overpowering flowery and herb like taste that stayed for a long time on the palate as an after taste, lastly all I can say is that this tea is one of the best teas that we have offered in last 2 years and no tea lovers should miss this tea at any cost.

Autumn flush Darjeeling tea (s) 2009: a note of satisfaction

2009-11-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

Autumn flush Darjeeling tea (s) 2009: a note of satisfaction

Finally I have been able to complete the list of Autumn flush 2009 Darjeeling teas on my website, though as usual it was difficult for me to sustain a great list of teas this season as we are the biggest bulk / commercial tea exporters from Darjeeling and whatever tea we select is often chosen by our Merchant clients and at the end of the day the good teas are almost over, so side by side we also make careful choices to stock excellent teas for our website clients too, so talking about this year`s tea list on our website I’m really satisfied as I could do a very careful and unique list of teas as each tea listed on the autumn Flush 2009 list of teas are totally different from each other, like for instance I started the list with the Thurbo clonal tips ftgfop-1 Ex-20 which is fruity tea with a lot of sweetness in cup, then keeping the health concerned tea lovers in mind we brought in the Sungma sftgfop-1 Green tea DJ-340 which is a delicious and mellow tea, then we moved on to Castleton when the Manager finally invited us for his muscatel beauty… A great tea is what I can say! Well talking about this tea I must again say that I’m proud to be a part of the Tea Emporium team as the Castleton only offered their teas to us this season and no other companies were even sent samples in Darjeeling as they were in a forward contract for their muscatel teas round the year, well I can imagine small companies like…… must be crying for Castleton teas even though they made various efforts to get a chest(20 kgs) of Castleton tea and claim to have brought an invoice as usual…..then again we moved on to the Thurbo plantation for their china origin teas which makes a heavy cup and specially we brought in the Thurbo ftgfop-1 china Ex-24 for people who enjoy their tea with a splash of milk, Namring ftgfop-1 clonal Ex-541 was the next tea that came into our list due to its extreme floral and light cup ,this one was for people who still enjoy their good cup of tea without sugar/milk, here came this another clonal tea from Turzum (Turzum clonal delight sftgfop-1 DJ-24) which was comparatively stronger than the Namring clonal tea and had an extremely nutty like taste and also had a smooth cup, the last and the final tea that arrived on our list was the Jungpana ftgfop-1 DJ-175 a great muscatel tea with a floral finish , we bet this tea will beat any top of the line Autumn teas in the market……..and above all a list at the most affordable rates and of excellent quality, so if you are still buying old teas at discounted rates when fresh teas are here at excellent prices then its up to you, but for those who enjoy high quality fresh teas each season…….all are welcome to join our autumn flush 2009 tea party!

Jungpana ftgfop-1 Dj-175 Autumn flush 2009:

2009-11-17T03:04:00.000-08:00

Jungpana ftgfop-1 Dj-175 Autumn Flush 2009:

This is a great muscatel tea of the season which will also give a stiff competition to any top 2nd Flush muscatel tea in the market, this particular tea came to our notice when a big bunch of samples were sent to us by a big tea brokerage company in Darjeeling, most of the teas from the Jungpana Tea Estate is good this autumn but this particular invoice DJ-175 of Jungpana wins the race by miles ahead as the dry leafs are well twisted and sorted, the tea is kept a bit high fired for that high flavoury nose, the tea has a very high muscatel and roasted nuts like aroma in this state, the cup is also very expressive with raw hints of grapy and muscatel notes and has a very smooth flowery after taste….All one can say is this is simply the best classic muscatel tea of the season.

Namring ftgfop-1 clonal Ex-541 Autumn Flush 2009:

2009-11-16T01:15:00.000-08:00

Namring ftgfop-1 clonal Ex-541 Autumn Flush 2009:

This super exclusive tea came to the limelight while we were checking various tea samples while we were doing the tea tastings for this Autumn flush 2009 list of teas, Actually this tea sample was sent to us by one of my very close friend who is also a tea exporter, he had sent me various tea samples from different Darjeeling tea estates but most of them were not standing high upon my expectations so out of the last 10 samples he had send us we had chosen 2 teas namely the Arya Ruby and this Namring clonal tea, the Arya teas are good but their teas are always dependant on the high fire meaning a roasted taste is always lying at the end of each sip which enhances the flavor but I was looking for a tea which would have a natural flavor, so I headed for the Namring ftgfop-1 clonal Ex-541 Darjeeling tea, this tea is simply amazing as it’s a very tippy type of tea which is really hard to find in this harvest , it has tips even more than any other season Arya Ruby teas, the cup is extremely floral and fruity, one can simply feel the touch of ripe mangoes on the palate with every sip and above all this tea is a true value for money tea of the season as if this type of tea is made in 1st or 2nd Flush one might have to pay atleast double the price against our offer this Autumn season.
This gem of a flavory tea should not be missed!

Castleton (ftgfop-1) Autumn china spl. DJ -357 Autumn Flush 2009

2009-10-31T05:39:00.000-07:00

Castleton (ftgfop-1) Autumn china spl. DJ -357 Autumn Flush 2009

We all know that the Castleton Tea Estate in Darjeeling is best known for its china type muscatel teas which are made in 2nd Flush and some in Autumn Flush. The garden could not provide us with any of its Muscatel teas in the 2nd Flush as they were under forward contract meaning some one had booked all their muscatel teas in 2nd Flush, I constantly kept in touch with the management during the 2nd Flush but failed to get any of it and when I was offered the muscatel teas after the contract was over the monsoons had kicked in and we had to reject the teas then but I regularly kept in touch with the Manager as the muscatel character could again happen in Autumn and Castleton makes some 3000kgs of pure autumn teas and the rest are sold as pre-autumn teas, the identity of a good autumn tea from this garden is that the cup has to be golden orange in liquor and the nose has to possess a mixture of pine and muscatel flavor.
I was called to the garden by Mr. Mukhia (Manager, Castleton Tea Garden) on the 31st of October `09, Mr. Mukhia is also a family friend of us so he arranged to keep samples of 5 different china type muscatel samples and a clonal tea sample for me, they arranged a tea tasting as soon as I reached the garden, he tried his best to sell me the clonal tea which was also good too but I am honestly sick and tired of clonal teas from Castleton this year as for wholesale purpose we have brought at least 800kgs of the clonals from them, as one can guess I was there for a good muscatel tea and not the “lights and florals” anymore. After tasting the 5 muscatel tea samples I selected the invoice DJ-357 tea which was a well sorted tea, had a great Muscat grape and piney nose, the liquor was very attractive and the cup is really full flavored muscatel type but sadly this invoice consists of very limited quantity of tea, since it contains only some 90kgs in the lot, so a tea lover has to rush for this tea before this gem of a tea gets out of stock!

Thurbo Clonal Tips ftgfop-1 Ex-20 Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

2009-10-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Thurbo clonal tips (ftgfop-1) EX-20 Autumn Flush Darjeeling Tea 2009:

As days passed on from 23rd October towards the 1st week of November the temperature in Darjeeling fell amazingly towards low and this was a right time for a Autumn Flush magic to happen in some of the estates in Darjeeling, so I had been flooded with samples from the Goodricke group in Darjeeling which owns gardens like Thurbo, Castleton, Margaret’s Hope, Barnesbeg and Badamtam , for the rest of the gardens I feel it will still take some time for a rich Autumn character but each time we received samples from Thurbo from the 2nd week of October we felt something is coming up meaning a character was getting pronounced each day we tried different samples from them, so right after the Diwali festival ( the festival of lights) I was called to the garden by Mr. J.D. Rai ( senior quality controller and Manager of the garden) as he claimed that something amazing had happened in his garden and guess what? Its the 1st batch of Autumn Flush 2009 that was rolling out from his garden, I simply could not resist the call and the very next morning I ran towards Thurbo tea garden through the beautiful valleys of Okayti and Gopaldhara tea estates, on my arrival I met another big Japanese tea wholesaler tasting some newly made Thurbo oolongs but I had no interest in fancy teas , I was just there in a desperate hunt for a classic Darjeeling tea and I feel I really got what I expected when the tea sample of Thurbo clonal tips ftgfop-1 Ex-20 was shown to me as I know my teas well and I saw all the characters in this tea that fits a perfect autumnal character, the tea looked totally dehydrated and dry which is the 1st impression of a good autumn tea, when sniffed on the dry leafs it gave out some rosy aroma and the cup was amazing as it had real pronounced hints of fresh orange peels and a very caramellic flavour was lying around it and above all the tea is simply mellow and there is no bitterness at all……I feel we had a very good start this Autumn!

An Approach to Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

2009-10-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2009:

I’m very glad that the autumn harvest has finally arrived and we are getting very busy again, I`ll definitely not say it’s a painful time that we are tasting about 30-40 samples every day and choosing 1-2 teas from various plantations, I would rather call this a full time adventure as autumn is a character and not a flush/harvest (though we call it a harvest) that lies between the monsoon harvest and the winter, actually after the 2nd Flush when the monsoons starts there is hardly any sunshine so the overall quality of the teas is dull (except some specialty teas), but after prolonged 3 months of rains when the rains stops the autumn season generally starts but not on teas, the autumn season for teas start only when the winter starts kicking in with a day and night temperature difference of 10-12 degree Celsius ,generally the leaf appearance of a pure autumn should be slightly purple and the basic taste should have a slight piney character on all china variety teas (well clonals may vary),as usual we have tried our best to bring you the best value for money teas, well being a professional exporter in bulk and consumer exports I’ll not ask you to search for a better collection of teas with others and let us know as it’s not your work to do so and I believe it’s my duty to sustain the quality and keep you happy as usual  and of coarse I`ll definitely not comment on any one else’s tea as every garden has it’s own charm of distinctive flavor, and ultimately the consumer is the best judge as if a tea is not good it’s the mistake of the merchant and not the garden ( well that’s what I learned from my guru during my tea tasting days in kolkata,India), so I believe by saying a particular tea garden’s tea is good than the other garden’s tea is not being a “tea guru” but is extreme stupidity, well also one more thing I wanted to convey to all is that please look for the invoice nos.(DJ/LC/Ex) when you buy even 500g of a particular tea, as it’s your right to ask for it as the story of Invoice nos. goes like this; 1 full invoice mean a minimum of 100-105 kgs of single grade tea and this type of teas are marked in “DJ” and the numerical is added after these alphabets like DJ1,DJ2…. And so on with the next count of different batches, the LC/Ex is mostly given to the batches below the 100kg mark and the most important thing is that some teas are just remainings/left overs of different batches that may be lying at the corner of the tea garden factory, this type of teas fits no invoices so the garden often sell off these teas to merchants in cheaper prices and this never happens in early season harvest but mainly during mid season harvest and this type of teas often loose flavor with 20-25 days from the day you have purchased it, actually its loosing flavor every day, so being the top exporter merchants from Darjeeling (in quantity and quality) we believe that all our most valuable customers should know their tea’s invoice nos. (Let it be our big time bulk importers or consumers), all are valuable customers for us and I`ll never blog back by saying “we cannot give the invoice nos. as our wholesale customers complain about it”…. Well I guess this note has added a bit of spice to our autumnal selections, Have a great tea time!.........and yes, the minimum quantity to be ordered is still 49$ but we offer you a free shipping by FedEx (5 days delivery) to the following countries like: Egypt,Phillipines,Singapore,Thailand,China,Hongkong,Brunei,Cambodia,,Indonesia,,Malayasia,South Korea,Taiwan,Vietnam,Belgium,Denmark,France,Germany,Greenland,Italy,Netherland,Switzerland,
UK,,Canada,Mexico,USA and Japan…….Now who can offer a free shipping for 49$ including teas and a fast 5 days delivery by FedEx,I think if you look around then other companies are offering this Fedex Delivery offer for orders over 100$ and even more,so what are you waiting for? Come and Join our Autumn Darjeeling Tea 2009 tea Party!

Monsoon Darjeeling tea scenario for sure!

2009-08-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have been able to bring up a write-up on my blog-page as we had a very busy 2nd flush this year, specially the bulk sales or wholesales have been very good for us this year as we are the only certified Exporters from Darjeeling who can export bulk teas legally for the overseas re-sellers as we are certified by the export wing of the Tea Board, India, also for the interest of the re-sellers, one should also note that many merchants from India without any sort of proper legal licenses take orders from the other end and send it as “tea samples” to save taxes but when the good reaches the other end for re-sales, it might get seized by the customs and also might get destroyed as this has already happened with my friend who suddenly turned as a tea trader with no tea idea at all here in India, but the reason I wanted to convey this point is that the person who ordered the teas on the other end was the only loser at the end of the day as his teas got seized and destroyed and I can understand how he must be feeling about it and whenever someone known to him wants to order teas from India, what would his reactions and suggestions be? It’s simple, anyone can guess…. And also people like us suffer at the end of the day, and regarding that tea-friend???? People like him will always find another job….
Anyways that was a great relief for me as I could convey the message to people who are concerned with the trade and I think now they know what to ask their suppliers when they order teas for re-sales…..anyways since the 2nd Flush 2009 is over and we are at the mid – period of the monsoons, I have been going around in the tea gardens looking for something new and I’m delighted to see the standard of the monsoon flush going up each year, actually during this period of time due to the heavy rainfall the growth of the tea leafs are very rapid and also due to the lack of sunshine the effect directly falls on the made-tea as the tea looks and tastes dull, this also used to happen earlier as the pluckers used to pluck the tea leafs in a rough manner unlike the fine plucking of the 1st or the 2nd Flush harvest period, also due to these combinations of manmade and natural factors the average pricing of the teas goes down in a dramatic way. So keeping all these factors in mind some of the tea gardens in Darjeeling took initiatives of trying to make some very good teas that would fetch a good price for them in this period of time to let the show keep going! Specially gardens like Rohini and Gopaldhara designed some great teas this monsoon, like the “Gold Thunder” and the “Silver Thunder”, these are both semi-fermented teas or one may call these Darjeeling oolongs, the samples I tasted had a very nice liquor and a very matured aroma….yeah one can say this is a perfect tea that reflects a of touch of the past 2nd Flush for its sweetness and a touch of coming autumn for its maturity, when I learned about the manufacturing details of this types of teas I came to know that the most important part was the fine-plucking done to make these teas ,similarly most premium gardens in Darjeeling are making Green teas and White teas and believe me some make exceptional quality teas now in this harvest like 1st or 2nd Flush and if an individual really wants a very high quality tea in this period of time then it is infact absolutely possible to find one though “its one among tens” but its not impossible, so now if someone says you that its not the time to have good teas now then please ask him/her to get updated as the Darjeeling tea picture has changed, well we are tasting a lot of greens and white teas from various Darjeeling tea estates, and as soon as we find some thing great , it will be updated on our site…..so keep visiting us and have great tea time!

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

2009-06-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

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!

Some Great 2nd Flush darjeeling teas 2009

2009-06-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

Some great 2^nd Flush Darjeeling teas 2009:

It has been a very hard and long 1^st 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd Flush 2009, many tea lover customers of ours were upset when we informed them that this tea was not that good in the 1^st Flush harvest, the manager of this garden who is also a very good friend of ours tried his best in 1^st Flush but he could not satisfy us then, but now when he came with the 1^st batch sample of the 2^nd 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 2^nd Flush 2009!

Rohini Emerald Green tea 2nd Flush darjeeling tea 2009

2009-05-24T22:42:00.002-07:00

Rohini Emerald Green Tea 2^nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

This tea just took me by surprise when Rishi (Owner of the Gopaldhara and Rohini tea estate) informed me that they are planning to harvest some very special Darjeeling tea this 2^nd Flush harvest and he told me that they were panning to make some high quality Green tea in their Rohini Plantation from the young Japanese clonal bushes that were once imported from Japan to make some great green teas in Darjeeling, but the project never succeeded as the former owner of the garden sold the garden to Rishi and his family, they say that teas from this small sector of young Japanese bushes makes some very good teas which are very sweet in taste, he informed me about this when the dormant period between 1^st and 2^nd Flush was going on, he made several teas for me all season long but I exactly knew what I wanted…..so finally during the end weeks of May when the 2^nd Flush harvest in Darjeeling takes place I asked him to make this tea for me, to make this tea it takes a lot of labour and hard work, only one leaf and a bud is plucked from this special sector of the garden when the new shoots have just grown out and is further withered for about 48 hours and then gentle steamed and then fired at the end , the idea of making this tea is to keep it as unprocessed as possible but at the same time it should be a well made tea, this superb tea also has bold looks as the leafs are kept unbroken , the cup is also amazing as after steeping the tea for about 3 minutes ,the liquor of the tea turns green like the colour of the Emerald stone, each sip in the cup is extremely refreshing with a very sweet taste of young cucumbers and young bananas that remains on the palate as an after taste, this tea will surely impress the white tea lovers too as the standard of this green tea takes Darjeeling specialty tea making to another level of satisfaction.

An Approach to 2nd Flush 2009 Darjeeling tea (s)

2009-05-13T02:06:00.000-07:00

An Approach to 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

As days passed away from the early spring to the summer, the 2nd Flush harvest has already started knocking at our doors but this is an extremely sensitive harvest as the 2nd Flush character lasts on the tea bushes for a very short time, in this harvest pronounced effects can be seen more on china variety bushes where the floral character of 1st Flush converts to Muscatel character further making the liquor slightly heavy unlike the 1st Flush harvest, the clonal variety teas are also very round in cup and pronounced in taste in this harvest as the liquor gets slightly heavier making it more sweeter in taste, the best teas in this harvest are plucked from both china and clonal variety tea bushes but only the most dehydrated leafs and buds are selectively plucked to make the muscatel teas.
We have so far tasted many samples from Darjeeling Valley gardens like Puttabong, North Tukvar and Barnesbeg; the Puttabong tea samples were interesting as it showed some very good sign of pre- 2nd Flush Harvests, especially the Puttabong Muscatel samples showed some good character than the clonal varieties but I must say that excellent and pronounced 2nd Flush teas should start in from this valley from the 2nd week of June as most of the tea bushes are going through the dormant period in this valley, while coming to the Kurseong valley gardens like the Castleton, Margaret’s Hope, Makaibari, Rohini and Ambootia, I must say none of these gardens showed any 2nd Flush character, they are rather more on the dormant period but Kurseong Valley gardens are known for making best 2nd Flush teas in the district and since the rainfall was sufficient in the early month of May we have great expectations of Having excellent 2nd Flush teas from this valley.
So I request my entire beloved and most valuable tea lover customers to be patient and as usual we will cater with the best 2nd Flush 2009 teas as usual…. Cheers!

2009-04-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Balasun and Sungma 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009
Its been a real adventure this 1st Flush choosing the right teas, now I would say it was easy to choose the high quality and expensive teas but getting some lower priced teas was a real challenge, and some average priced teas are also required to complete the list of teas this season, so we ordered samples from various plantation, like Thurbo, Goomtee, Arya and Singbulli, but all the teas from the month of April showed very dark appearances, I would rather call it a burnt and dehydrated character, I specially had great expectations from the Singbulli plantation but all the 6 or 7 samples did not do any wonders for me, so I finally called up Mr. A.K. Jha ( Superintendent) of Sungma and Balasun Tea Estates, he had send us many samples, some were teas from pure china bushes and some were assamese hybrid bushes but more or less the teas were not up to the mark but I could finally choose 2 teas from Balasun and Sungma and would say it was a complete luck for me to get these teas, as these 2 teas were exceptionally excellent during this period of time, the 1st one is Sungma sftgfop-1 china classic Dj-16, an excellent offering having slightly darker leafs and has a well twisted leafs and full sized buds, the cup is pungent and smooth with hints of young pears without any bitterness, the other one is my personal favourite,the Balasun sftgfop-1 china classic Dj-16,it’s a really excellent tea having very bright leafs and small sized shiny sliver tips, the cup is extravagantly fruity and the after taste is extremely mellow, so I must say that even in low price I could offer 2 great teas in this hard harvest season

Darjeeling tea 2009: 1st Flush selections get even better

2009-04-09T02:42:00.000-07:00

Darjeeling tea 2009: 1st Flush selections get even better

I think this year we have tasted more than 60 samples to get some 5-7 teas in our list of 1st Flush 2009 teas. Well talking about that I cannot stop myself from writing about our Gopaldhara clonal classic ftgfop-1 DJ-3 tea, actually we have been tasting tea samples from Gopaldhara tea estate since last Second Flush 2008 but I was not excited with any of their teas so one fine day Rishi (the owner of Gopaldhara) called me up asking why I was not ordering any teas from them and I told him the reasons that was stopping me from promoting any of their teas, so he promised me that he would send some good Gopaldhara tea samples that could fit in my list of fine Darjeeling teas, so during the 3rd week of March as usual I received a large sample packet of Gopaldhara tea samples and as usual I thought it would contain teas that would not fit my taste buds, but my father asked me to open the tea sample packet and we went through at least 6-7 Gopaldhara and Rohini tea sample but none of the teas were appealing, at the corner of the sample packet there was this Gopaldhara ftgfop-1 clonal classic DJ-3 tea sample pouch, so to give it a try I opened the sample pounch and WOW!…..I was excited to see this tea, this was exactly what we were looking forward to, in this hard season ,it was hard withered to keep that greenish and tender look on the tea and one should also consider the hard withered teas in this season as it’s a sacrifice of quantity when the tea is hard withered meaning the quantity of tea leaves goes down. The dry leafs were amazing and with a slight blow of warm air from the mouth on the leafs gave out a very fruity aroma and when the tea is further brewed for about 4-5 minutes, the cup immediately give out some refreshing fruity flavor with slight hints of young green bananas and white grapes, must say ….an absolute beautiful tea of the season!
Also on the other side I agree that good teas are available in a very limited quantity this 1st Flush season but one cannot say they are not available at all, I was very sad to see blogs written by so called tea wise people that the 1st Flush 2009 Darjeeling teas are not very good, well I don’t mind consumers writing about it as they get this news through some news website or magazine etc. who keep their homework incomplete, but even tea merchants write this type of blogs which even they know that is not fully true and by writing this they get an advantage of getting rid of their old teas in the same high price and may be they do not want to spend their money on good teas as good teas costs good price…..anyways I`m proud to write that I’ve been able to cater good teas this season too as its been over 1 month that I been tasting various samples and choosing the right teas and also I’ve been able to prove the point wrong that 1st Flush 2009 Darjeeling teas are not up to the quality level due to drought, I would request all tea lovers to follow their own mind and choose teas from us instead of following blogs of people who have no idea about what they are blogging about…or may be merchants who are blogging to escape the heat of investment for good teas this season!

Margaret`s Hope 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

2009-03-23T21:43:00.001-07:00

Margaret’s Hope 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

As days past away hunting for good teas in various gardens in Darjeeling, I got a call from Mr. Anil Gurung (factory assistant) Margaret’s Hope Tea Estate that a couple of excellent batches of tea have just been made and I should be there by the early morning on the 21st of March 2009 as another big buyer from Japan was coming for the same tea, so I quickly took my camera and started my journey from Darjeeling to Margaret’s Hope, we were passing through some very steep road and beautiful scenery could be seen from the car’s window but I was actually getting impatient, finally I happened to reach the garden and I saw Mr. Anil Gurung and Mr. Pande (Manager of the garden) waiting for me, I immediately got down from the car and we all headed for the tea tasting room of the garden, after I reached there I came to know that the big Japanese buyer had given her bid for the teas and wanted the teas at any cost, so I was a bit nervous while we did the tea tasting but I must say both the teas were simply excellent, the first one that I was offered was the Margaret’s hope ftgfop-1 china spl.DJ-4 which was made from pure china origin (bushes grown from the seeds)leafs and shoots, had a very bright leaf appearance and the cup showed some very interesting fruity character and the most important factor regarding this tea was that it had an after taste of young fruits and flowers that remained on the palate for a long time so there was no turning back ,so we had a stiff bidding completion with the other Japanese buyer and luckily we got the tea, Infact I was very happy that I got a very nice tea in the time when there was very less amount of good teas in Darjeeling, the next tea was this tea called Margaret’s hope (Wonder) White tea, this tea is made exclusively made for us from young clonal bushes like AV2 and P312 by Mr. Gurung (factory assistant ,Margaret’s hope),with full unsorted long leafs and full sized buds, I must say it’s a master craftsmanship right from the tea plucker who carefully plucked the tender shoots and buds to the factory assistant who made the tea, its simply a beauty from dry leaf to the cup, a true champagne of the 1st Flush Darjeeling.

Puttabong Queen sftgfop-1 Dj-7 1st Flush 2009

2009-03-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Puttabong (Tukvar) sftgfop-1 DJ-7 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

I was a bit upset to see most of the early invoice 1st Flush tea samples to comprise mostly of dry and dehydrated leafs in the teas from various gardens in Darjeeling as there has been no rainfall since last October 2008, it looked hard to get a very good tea but it was not impossible to get one, so after judging the various factors of the situation I called up Mr. Somani (superintendent) of Puttabong Tea Estate as this is one of the highest tea plantation in Darjeeling and they make some great 1st Flush teas every year, I had a long discussion with him over the phone as I had received some tea samples from them which impressed me a lot, so I told him that the 1st tea of the season that I want to offer in my list should be the best among all as usual and after hours of discussion he suggested me that I should wait for a couple of days since the young clonal fields of the gardens were filled with fair amounts of tender young shoots and buds, so after two days he told me that he asked few of his expert tea pluckers of the garden to finely pluck the one leaf and a bud from the young bushes during early hours of the morning when dew drops are present on the leafs and buds so that the shoots remain even more tender which is good for the production.
I must say those couple of days was really worth for waiting as the made tea was one of the finest we might have ever offered, the made tea consists of extravagant number of silver tips and the leafs look extremely greenish, the cup gives out an excellent flowery and fruity aroma and some hints of young mangoes remains on the palate with some sweetness as an after taste. This is how the Puttabong sftgfop-1 Queen Dj-7 was made.
I also cannot stop writing about the fact that I’m lucky be a part of Tea Emporium, Darjeeling which has been in the trade for generations now, and the reputation which surely backed me up to get the best invoice of the season when there is a very large scarcity of good teas in the market, and I also feel sorry for the merchants that I know are just struggling to get anything in hand at the very moment, and even if it rains now there will be no magic as the soil is heated now and the rain will make more leafs grow but the quality factor will go down.
Similarly like the Puttabong Queen, we have more good teas to offer in the near future and we invite all tea lovers to join the tea party.

High Hopes for Darjeeling tea 1st Flush 2009

2009-03-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

It has been an uncertain winter since December 2008, where one cannot say either Darjeeling has received enough cold or cloudy weather which is natural at this point of time but it has been rather sunny ,clear days and nights filled with bright stars in the sky and some full moon nights.Well taking about the situation of spring 2009 teas,I`ll say we have a great expectation as I passed through Kurseong ,through some great tea making gardens like Castleton and Margaret`s hope,I saw most of their clonal field were prunned and its a good sign as when the spring starts, we will get to see some great fresh and young teas,but its all dependant on the mercy of the nature as we need some serious winter rains right now but the question is when???? its been cloudy almost everyday from the last week in the end of February 2009 but due to extreme heavy winds the clouds are shattered and chased away and we are still hanging on for winter rains. We expect to have some great early teas from Namring and Thurbo as the weather conditions in these areas are still bit alright than the other gardens.
I cannot stop myself from writing about the winter crop, as I see some companies selling these teas as early 1st Flush starters,but its too funny as these types of teas belong to the dormant harvest period as the leafs in this time are extremely dehydrated ,so the appearance of the winter teas are rather dry and sometimes looks like a mixture of green and burnt leafs, the basic character is neither like the Autumn Flush and not even like 1st flush, but the truth is IT Sells! but one should not keep this type of tea for a long time in stock as this types of tea will lose its flavour each day and may be by a month a brew will only give away a cup of hot water and nothing else......
anyways we have been bombarded with e-mails each day for the new crop for 1st Flush 2009,all I want to say to all is that, Please have patience and we`ll offer you teas that have been value for your money for years!.....Cheers!

Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2008

2008-11-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2008

After a Long Monsoon season this year, at a certain period of time we thought if we will really get some good autumn teas this year or not? As it rained really hard up to October 2nd week, which is actually the beginning of the Autumn Harvest, one should also remember that autumn harvest is the shortest harvest period among all harvests done through the year and sometimes some gardens do not get the opportunity to even conceive any pure autumn teas as this is the harvest which stands between the Monsoon and the winters, so too much humidity after the monsoon is bad for this harvest and also cold atmospheric temperatures of the approaching winters stops the growth of new leafs and buds required for this harvest, so one can surely understand how much we are dependent on the nature’s mercy to have a good crop.
This harvest season we have tasted many good and bad teas, I would definitely not write the bad part but I’ll try to put up as much as possible. The well-defined Autumn Flush teas were first launched by the Mirik Valley Gardens like Thurbo, Okayti and Seeyok, as usual the character of these garden’s teas were mostly with good nose (flavor), good liquor but I was mostly impressed with the Thurbo Tea Estate’s teas, specially the young teas, I must say the tea makers at Thurbo Tea Estate have really made up to the mark in terms of making the high quality young clonal teas, I was really impressed to see their Thurbo Oriental Delight this season as of coarse one should not expect an excellent ornamental value of a tea and should rather concentrate on the cup and this tea was excellent but was exclusively available in a limited stock, of coarse custom made for us. The china special Ftgfop-1`s were also very good and must say these teas were also one of my personal favorite. Talking about the kurseong Valley gardens, well Castleton teas did not impress me too much, but I was keen to see their Clonal Moonlight but as I have mentioned earlier that its very hard to find young buds during this Harvest, so making this tea was impossible for this season so I had to back out from this garden, But Jungpana made some very good teas as this garden has some of the finest china origin bushes and is world renowned for its teas in all the 3 major Darjeeling tea harvests, specially talking about the DJ-213 ,I’d gone crazy to have this tea on my list, as after many years I have seen a very good Autumn tea like this ,the muscatel flavor ,backed up by pine like after taste ,makes one feel like being in heaven! I tried several Goomtee samples but had to keep these teas away from my list as these teas had a very hard liquor but may be later on I can get some good teas from this estate as even this garden makes some very good Autumn teas. I cannot afford to forget about the Tumsong and Lingia Organic teas and the Journey through these gardens, First of all I’m really thankful to Mrs. Suman Gurung, the head of the Tumsong Resorts to let me visit the garden with her, on the way to the garden I saw some amazing scenery which I had never seen in my life, these gardens have some of the finest and oldest tea bushes in Darjeeling, one must go to these estates and see the tea bushes on the dangerous slopes rising high above toward the blue autumnal sky and should meet the ever helpful and cheerful people of this area, I always wondered why almost all the teas of these tea estates tasted so good and found out the most important factor and that is, the tea bushes on the slopes are facing the Kunchanjunga Mountains, I really enjoyed to see the organic culture in these areas even the most common vegetable grown in this estate is grown organically, well I have a very good Tumsong Autumn tea offer on my website, I hope my most valuable tea lover customer will enjoy my blog and the teas as usual. Have a great tea time! …Cheers.

An Approach to Autumn Flush Darjeeling tea 2008

2008-10-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long time since I’ve been able to write anything about the status of Darjeeling teas as it was a merciless Monsoon this time and it really rained so hard that we could not see any unique teas this season, usually the stretch between the month of July to September is a bad time for high quality Darjeeling teas but at times we always use to expect some unique teas in this period of time.
Its already been 1st week of October but we can’t even see a sign of the much awaited Autumnal character, in this particular harvest we expect to see and taste some of the most round and smooth character teas as in this period of time the sun shine is much regular and from some of the rare de-hydrated leafs and shoots we get to see some exceptional teas. Well also to keep in mind one should not expect a “tippy” appearance in a tea in this season as this harvest contains much lesser tips in the teas due to several natural factors.
I think we will have a great autumn crop this year but on the other side we will have a crop scarcity, so I would like to warn all tea lovers to choose a proper vendor for their tea orders as some people will try to sell the Monsoon crop as Autumn harvest as usual! Well I would like to ask my most valuable customers to have patience and wait the Original Autumn Flush 2008!

Exclusive Darjeeling White tea 2008

2008-08-26T02:31:00.000-07:00

This harvest season we have been able to procure some of the finest Darjeeling White teas and I must admit after a long time we have been able to procure what we actually wanted. A cup filled with the magic of freshness!

Okayti (Silver Tips) white tea: A rare and unique offering of the year, this tea is plucked from the youngest clonal bushes of this wonderful tea plantation of Darjeeling, all the process involved in manufacturing this tea is done manually, especially each silver tip is hand rolled very carefully by expert tea makers of the garden and its done in such a way that each tiny hair remains prominent on each silver tip which gives that extra ornamentation to the tea, this tea should be steeped for 6 minutes to get that extremely refreshing aroma and slight delicate taste of fresh pears and white grapes that ends with exceptionally mellow after taste, this rare white tea has all the health benefits of a very high quality Green tea and is one of the best of its kind in the world.
Champagne of teas among exceptional and rare Darjeeling teas!

Arya white pearl/organic: This is one of the rare premium organic tea made in Darjeeling by one of the famous plantation in Darjeeling, which is totally hand made and no machines are used at any stage of the production of this tea, each two leaf and a bud is plucked by the expert tea pluckers of this plantation at the early hours of the morning when there is sufficient dew on the leafs from young bushes that has natural floral character. The leafs are then spread very thinly in sunlight for about 4 hours to allow the moisture to be evaporated. About 8-12 leafs are rolled at a time in fine silk cloth for about 5-6 minutes to ensure a slight rupture of enzymes while retaining most of the “two leaf and a bud” shape of the leaf. This tea should be steeped for about 6 minutes to get that extremely floral and fruity aroma and as the leafs are unbroken, the tea immediately gives that smooth and sweet taste on the palate with each sip and the liquor of the tea is similar to the color of the white pearl.
A superb quality tea that’s hard to be imitated!

Darjeeling Tea: White tea 2008

2008-08-16T03:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I really do not know how to start this blog, since I grew up in a tea trading family, and I always learned so much from my father about Darjeeling black teas as in his time Darjeeling was always famous for black teas only, the specialty section of Darjeeling Whites, Greens and Oolongs came into existence in terms of Market Demand only after the year 2002 when Tea Lovers all around the globe wanted something new from Darjeeling, so different great tea makers from various gardens in Darjeeling started making this specialty section which of coarse was not really very tongue friendly for a common tea drinker, as when initially people tried this teas they missed that typical Darjeeling character in the cup as everybody knew Darjeeling tea for its Muscatel flavor and round body character , but as time passed by, the tea makers started creating the floral character in the specialty tea which was accepted world wide by various tea lovers
, This was successful due to the young bushes better known as clonals, as clonals are more mellow and floral in character than the usual china and Assam hybrids. But making these teas got extremely difficult as only special experienced hands could be used to pluck the most tender shoots and buds, as these rare teas cannot be made with just any leaf from the garden but only from the special young bushes from the special section of the gardens, so this is the reason why specially Darjeeling Green and White teas are so Rare.
This season we got a big demand from all our regular customers for Darjeeling white teas, so keeping the demand in mind and maintaining the same reputation of excellent teas in the list, we are presenting the Okayti Silver tips White tea and the Arya Pearl Organic White tea, both are extremely rare white teas and both have their own unique characters, further details regarding these teas are given in our main site, so I hope as usual I’ll succeed in satisfying my most valuable customers.

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

2008-07-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

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:

2008-05-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

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

Goomtee,Balasun,Jungpana 1st Flush teas 2008

2008-04-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned earlier that this year, the early harvest was very slow and since we exclusively deal with the early season exclusive teas, we had a tough time procuring the best teas from various different plantations of Darjeeling but now I’m also very happy to launch some of the premium black teas of the season that has been added to our list of 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2008: Please note that this year we have some of the1st invoice teas from few gardens, mostly first invoices teas are the cream of the best teas produced by various plantations these are marked as DJ-1,DJ-2,DJ-4 etc so these numbers indicates the actual production period of the teas and also not to forget specially the DJ-1s are not given to any buyers but to only those who has a reputation of dealing with only the high end teas.

1. Goomtee (ftgfop-1) DJ-1 `08: A top of the line super quality tea from one of the most prestigious plantation of Darjeeling. Being the 1st invoice of the garden, the leafs are well withered as a result of which the tea is extremely greenish in dry leaf state and in the cup, the tea has a very intense fruity and nutty flavor which ends with a very balanced briskness, A super refreshing tea of the season.

2. Jungpana (upper/ftgfop-1) DJ-4 `08: A finely plucked tea from some of the youngest china origin bushes of this prestigious plantation of Darjeeling, the leafs are well sorted as a result of which the dry leafs forms a very good brick on each other, this tea is extremely floral in the cup and creates that typical buttery and muscatel layer on the palate followed up by a mellow after taste. A true symbol of an exotic Darjeeling tea.

3. Balasun (classic/sftgfop-1)DJ-4 `08: A nicely sorted and well fired tea which has a very fruity cup that reminds of young fruits and flowers and an after taste that lingers on the palate for a long time without any bitterness. A perfect spring tea for the afternoon.

Castleton Moonlight (ftgfop-1) 2008 First Flush

2008-04-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

This year, the month of March i.e. the beginning of First Flush 2008 has been a nightmare for all tea growers in Darjeeling due to shortage of enough leafs for the manufacture, specially we were scared as we had a huge order from some of the Merchants from the west and also some individual tea lovers, this year we are at least 1 week late to procure this wonderful young tea, I was in touch with Mr.. Mukhia (Manager Castleton T.E.) from the last weeks of February for this tea, actually this tea is produced in a very limited quantity by this plantation, this tea is grown exclusively at the “allay” section of the plantation at a height over 5500feet,so the growth of the leafs in this section is very slow due to the extreme cold atmospheric temperature, the leafs are plucked when they are very young just before the sunrise by expert tea pluckers of the plantation, the tea is then withered for over 28-30 hours to have the even freshness in all the leafs, then its only fermented for over 20-25 minutes for that slight touch of flavour and fired for the perfect crisp, as a result of which the tea is extremely rich in anti-oxidants. The real tea maker behind this early spring exotica is Mr. Gurung (factory assistant) who is also one of the most renowned tea makers in Darjeeling District.

1st Flush 2008 - Thurbo Oriental White Delight (White tea)

2008-03-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Its seems like this garden is blessed by holy angels and Gods this year as its already been 3rd week of March and we are not satisfied by any other garden’s teas compared to this garden’s products so far, this year we have a very high demand from one of the most prestigious tea buyer from the west so seeing the quality of the leafs of the Thurbo estate, we gave them the order for a very high quality White tea they have ever made and not to forget they completed this order with heart and soul and I give that special credit to Mr. Anil Gurung ( Factory assistant Manager- Thurbo Estate).

The tea is actually made in a very careful manner, firstly its plucked by the most expert pluckers of the garden from the northern side of the young clonal fields of the estate that faces the Kanchanjunga range, they say that young bushes facing the Himalayan Mountains make better aromatic teas as the cold breeze that blow through the bushes coming from the mountain does the magic, well I think there shouldn’t be any debates against their saying as at the end of the day the tea is truly wonderful, soon after that the tea is withered for over 48 hours at a constant temperature of 20-22 degrees Celsius and soon after its fired very carefully and the whole process is highly depend on hands as this type of tea cannot be made in a machine, the end result of the tea is truly amazing as the infused leafs are totally green and only the young and tender leafs are seen very clearly without any mixture of any old leafs.
All the 3 Assistant Managers and (Mr. Rai) the Senior Manager of the Estate were present during the first tasting sessions and of coarse I was very nervous, but the end result came out very well as the tea came out to be extremely flavoury and as the temperature of the tea in the cup went down the tea showed different layers of flavour and character with each sip and above of the last sip when the tea was completely cold gave another distinct floral after taste which is commonly not found in many teas, well I think there won’t be any better white tea than this tea ,this season, I guess not even from the same estate!

1st Flush 2008 - THURBO TIPPY CLONAL

2008-03-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

Thurbo Tippy clonal (ftgfop-1) 1st Flush 2008

I am very happy to introduce the 1st tea of this year to all tea lovers, this year has not been very easy to procure the best teas as the crop growth is extremely slow, after waiting for weeks Mr. A. Gurung of the Thurbo Estate finally gave me a call regarding the 1st invoice of the Thurbo Tippy clonal 1st Flush 2008 which is simply awesome this year, I reached the estate at around 9 a.m. and I`m also proud say that I made my own tea, meaning I personally planned the style of my tea where I tried my best to sort out the floater leafs and keep the long well twisted young tea leafs as a result of which the tea is extremely floral and ends with an unique fruity after taste ,the dry leafs contains over 40% unbroken silver tips which gives the extra glow to the tea.

We are proud to mark this tea as one of our signature teas!

1st Flush Darjeeling Tea 2008 - Delay

2008-03-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

I’ve been in a regular contact with the managers of various plantations in Darjeeling and all the gardens will come up with a slow start this year due to the uneven balance of temperature this year which makes the growth of new leafs and buds very slow, talking about the Darjeeling Valley Gardens like Puttabong, North Tukvar, Barnesbeg etc. which use to start with their 1st invoices of First Flush by probably the end of 1st week of March will get their first couple of invoices only by the 10th of March or may be a couple of Days later.

The Kurseong Valley gardens like Castleton, Goomtee, Jungpana, and Makaibari etc. will start after the 15th of March but the Mirik valley gardens which are usually late starters like Thurbo, Gopaldhara etc might be early starter this year as unusually the area is much more humid this year so leaf growth is expected to be rapid in these gardens and we can expect early invoices from these gardens.

1st Flush 2008 - Darjeeling Tea

2008-02-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

1st Flush 2008 - Darjeeling Tea

It has been a long time since I’ve been able to place any information regarding the 1st flush 2008 teas, well to be very honest on one side we expect a very good crop as we had a couple of full fledged winter rains in mid February and a mild snowfall too, which shows a clear sign of a very healthy crop, specially the clonals would do wonders for the tea planters but seeing the current political scenario in Darjeeling where most of the tea garden labours are involved in the agitation, some of the very renowned tea gardens will suffer here as due to this involvement as these particular gardens missed the important curing required before this golden harvest but I don’t want to mention the names of these gardens as in the mid-spring they can still give a good harvest but the early spring crop will not be very good for them.

Well talking about our selections I will not try to be very experimental this year as I had succeeded last year with my selection of teas and at least 90% of my customers had appreciated my teas, specially I can’t stop myself from writing about the Singbulli clonal delight and the Thurbo Tippy clonal ftgfop-1 1st Flush teas as these teas were highly appreciated by many tea lovers and also not to forget I also achieved many new customers due to these teas but again the early invoice teas are our business secret and after determining all the current status we have already selected our invoice of 1st flush teas from different sub divisions of different tea estates.

So, we once again invite all tea lovers to join our 1st flush 2008 tea party from the 2nd week of March.

A visit to Thurbo Tea Estate for autumn tea

2007-11-02T01:22:00.000-07:00

Thurbo Tea Estate

On the 1st of November`07 I was invited at the Thurbo Tea Garden, one of my favorite tea estate, though this garden is famous for its exclusive young teas better known as the Tippy clonals, But please note this is the autumn harvest and the main point to be noted is that autumn is not a flush it’s a character that’s formed just before the cold winters and also due to the plucking done through out the year the buds or tips are almost impossible to find in most teas of this season, so in this season we mostly look for a better cup than appearance.

As any other garden visit, I was offered with a pile of samples by Mr. A. Gurung (factory assistant manager) and as usual we sorted out some of the most exotic china type teas from the pile and started tasting, we tasted some clonals too but I was not convinced as I needed some heavier cup teas from this estate, I was offered some nice looking oolongs and whites but the only thing I needed was that typical high fired pungent Darjeeling black teas so we soon came across the Dj – 638 Ftgfop-1 invoice and there was no looking back any more, honestly I did not want to taste any more teas because I got exactly what I wanted , a good bodied , full flavored tea , an absolute good tea for a layman. I was also surprised to know that the Manager was fermenting the teas over 3-4 hours , where normally black teas are fermented for maximum 2 hours in autumn harvest, so one can imagine, Darjeeling is getting Cold!

Mr. A. Gurung (Asst. Manager) - Thurbo Tea Estate

Autumn visit to Margaret’s hope Tea Estate

2007-11-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

Margaret's Hope Tea Garden Factory

On the 30th of October I went to one of my favorite tea estate Margaret’s hope Tea Garden located just below the Sonada station in Darjeeling.

Climbing down the steep hills towards the factory make the hair stand on the skin but this road is absolutely great fun for people of our age who definitely needs that buzz after a busy schedule…. anyways I was delighted to watch the scenery go pass by, specially the clean air I was breathing after months of working in the busy Darjeeling town, soon we reached the factory there was Mr. Rawat (factory assistant Manager) waiting for me as usual with his thick beard, we did a lot of tea tasting but I was not convinced with any of the teas, I was specially there for their china special variety but not even one tea was convincing for me, all the tea had that touch and grow condition meaning pre-autumn character.

(Rajiv Mitra - Testing Margaret's Hope Autumnal Flush 2007)

I met the Senior Manager Mr. J.D. Rai and he told us that there was atleast a temperature difference of 10 degrees Celsius between day and night and any difference above 5 degrees Celsius means less crop or pre-seasonal crop, they offered me many Oolongs and White teas but I was there to buy the real face of Darjeeling tea that is a very high quality black tea ,so I had to come back empty handed, they promised me that they would send us their best teas as soon as its available so let see, we have some 2 weeks in hand now. But can surely say that the Autumn 2007 will not be a successful one.

Singbulli Autumn Flush 2007

2007-11-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

Finally on the evening of 27th October 2007 I was called up by the Manager of the Singbulli Tea Estate, I was excited as usual, so on the next morning I headed for the Estate, as usual I loved to drive down the road to Mirik towards Soureni bazar.

I reached the garden after a couple of hours drive from the Darjeeling town, I was getting nervous and exited as usual as I walked toward the gardens factory, soon Mr. Mantri (Manager, Singbulli tea estate Darjeeling) came out from his office to receive me and we soon marched towards the tea tasting room of the garden , I sorted out some 15 tea samples from around 25 tea samples that he offered me , soon after the water came to the boiling point we started with the china type teas ,well Singbulli being a low elevation garden has a lot of china bushes but for European market this type of tea would not work as the teas had a very strong body and somehow none of the teas we tasted had that sharp taste that I wanted , But the Singbulli Garden is famous for its AV-2 clone teas made specially at the Tingling Division of the garden ,this is the same sector from where the most famous Singbulli Clonal delight was made in the first flush, of coarse exclusively for us. Well soon after that we came to the point of tasting the clonal teas, we started with the “Marma” divison clones but those were too harsh for my tongue so at last we came to the Tingling division teas we tasted a couple of samples, soon I was attracted by one of the teas which was absolutely like what I wanted, actually as I have mentioned earlier that this garden is situated at a low altitude place so the teas produced here after summer is a bit stronger than usual Darjeelings but if one can increase the withering time then the liquor would be more bright and the taste would be sharper and the dry leafs would also be greener and the silver tips would look prominent, in short a completely new and acceptable character could be created, this is what I had requested the Manger to do and what a joy my prediction worked , my recipe made the best tea of the lot, so without any more further doubt I confirmed the last tea that I tasted from Tingling Division.

I specially brought this tea for my beloved customers who appreciated the first flush Singbulli Clonal delight silver tips. This new autumn tea is Know as the Singbulli SFTGFOP-1 Tippy.

Sign of Autumn Flush!

2007-10-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

As usual we have been flooded with tea samples from various gardens but it seems Autumnal character is visible more in clonals than the china type variety, actually china origin plants takes a longer period to grow and in its peak time it gives some exceptionally matured teas so the resistance power in this type of plant is more so it really take much more time than any clonal plant to get a perfect character for example even in 1st and 2nd Flush the china variety arrives late.

Well taking about china type variety we recently tasted a couple of Chamong Ftgfop-1 samples; of coarse the character of the teas were that of the monsoon variety but it was still interesting as the taste was still matured and the cup still had that usual brightness, I somehow really like the teas of all the four gardens of the same group that is Chamong, Lingia, Tumsong and Pussimbing.

I’m still waiting for a word from the Singbulli Garden Manager, I’m specially looking forward to their Tingling Valley clonals as all our customers know about this tea as the 1st Flush 2007 Singbulli Clonal delight has been the best rated tea so far this year. Unlike the First Flush this time I’m looking for a much heavier cup both in aroma and Liquor, so I think the Manager is working really hard for it, but again it depends on the mercy of the nature.

Hope for a good Autumn crop

2007-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve been in close contacts with the tea garden managers here and since there has been at least 25% less harvest during the Monsoon season, there has been a mad rush in the market as we can see a clear shortage of tea just before the long winters to come, also on the other side the temperature is dropping each day so I think we`ll have a very short Autumnal period.

On the 7th of October I had called up Mr.Mukhia (Manager Castleton Tea Estate) and he said that they are receiving a good price at the auctions and they are also expecting some great clonals this season and not to mention we have also booked some of the great teas from this estate. Also Mr.Mantri (Manager Singbulli Estate) had the same verdict….

Well let’s wait and watch what happens!

Autumnal Flush 2007 – An Approach !

2007-09-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

Its been a very busy schedule for me so far, I’m also very delighted to say that our e-store is really getting famous with an excess amount of mail orders, it seems our selection of top quality Darjeeling teas are absolutely perfect for our clients and I’ve been flooded with mails about the satisfaction they got after ordering teas from us and people are curious about our Autumnal selections. Well the hunt is on! But it’s been raining very badly so far here in Darjeeling and the production of the monsoon crop has been very poor in quality and quantity so far. There has been almost 25% less production of teas this season.

Well taking about Autumnal flush, people often think that the last crop of the year is the least quality Darjeeling tea, but they are wrong as this harvest is equally premium as the 1st and 2nd Flush teas. The difference is that this crop tends to get more heaver in body and more matured in aroma than the other 2 crops, I’ve often heard from customers saying that their purveyor of Darjeeling teas had informed them that the autumn flush is lowest quality Darjeeling tea as it’s the end of the harvest, but I strictly disagree to that because all these rumors are spread because mostly European and Japanese buyers buys a lot of 1st and 2nd Flush teas but when they are unable to finish their stock before the Autumnal Flush arrives, they spread these rumors.(Well I don’t say all of them do this).

Like the 2nd Flush Darjeeling teas Autumn flush teas are also famous for its rich muscatel flavors and the best Autumnal teas are made from the dehydrated leafs and Buds meaning leafs without any moisture would make the best Autumnal Flush teas.

Well we keep all our customers updated as soon as we start selection our share of exotic Autumnal teas and we have to do it very carefully as some gardens also try to sell their monsoon teas as autumnal flush teas. So keep visiting our site so you get the best share of this harvest!

2nd Flush, 2007 - Margaret’s Hope (china special FTGFOP-1)

2007-06-04T22:39:00.002-07:00

As usual we were looking for a very good tea from this premium Garden of Darjeeling, we were in a continuous touch with the garden management for the best of 2nd Flush tea from this garden, finally on the 29th of May 2007, Mr. Rai (Manager) of the Margaret’s Hope tea estate had come to our retail store with various samples of Muscatel, tippy clonal and china special type teas, we tasted all the types, the clonals were very good but we were looking for a good body pure 2nd flush tea so were ordered for the china special tea which is a very good tea with pure 2nd Flush character,I personally like its nutty and rosy aroma with a sweet after taste character, I`m sure this tea will be one of the best seller of this season, as its simply perfect.

2nd Flush, 2007 - Goomtee (ftgfop-1)

2007-06-04T22:39:00.001-07:00

All tea lovers know about this particular garden’s products specially in the 2nd Flush and Autumnal seasons, this is also one more great example of great Muscatel teas born in Darjeeling, this tea has a very unique Muscatel character as most Muscatel teas ends with a dry finish on the tongue but this tea is rather smooth and sweet with an overall hint of dry fruits, we are proud to have this particular invoice in our list of 2nd Flush 2007 teas, we are also proud have this tea as one of our signature teas.

2nd Flush, 2007 - Castleton (muscatel – FTGFOP-1)

2007-06-04T22:38:00.001-07:00

We were waiting for a long time for this tea, as last year we could not find any good Muscatel invoice from this prestigious Tea Garden of Darjeeling, many customers complained about this as Castleton produces the best Muscatel tea in Darjeeling District, the particular invoice that we have in our list of 2nd Flush 2007 teas is one of the best batch made by the garden this year, there were more than 8 exporters who were bidding for this tea but we were again lucky enough to bag this tea for our list……the awesome fruity taste in the tea backed up by the dry muscatel notes makes the tongue go heavy with a different experience of Darjeeling tea drinking, A top of the line 2nd Flush delight!

2nd Flush, 2007 - Tumsong (Organic) FTGFOP-1

2007-06-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Tumsong (Organic) FTGFOP-1 2nd Flush Darjeeling tea 2007:

After being the best seller of 1st Flush 2007, we have bagged the 2nd Flush Tumsong Organic FTGFOP-1 2007/DJ-62, this tea is finely hand plucked from pure china pushes which ages at least 70 years, unlike the1st Flush this 2nd Flush Tumsong is coppery in dry leaf state and has a very fine blend of tiny golden tips that resembles the rare 2nd Flush character, when steeped in hot water for 5 minutes, the exotic aroma flows high above from the cup, with every sip the honey and nutty like aroma lingers around the palate with soft and matured tones of muscatel character. A must try tea for all tea lovers!

2nd Flush, 2007 - Darjeeling Rohini Green Tea

2007-06-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well I’m not a Green tea lover, but this year Rohini Estate Green Tea took me by surprise, Mr. G.D. Saria (Director) of the Sona tea limited which owns Gopaldhara, Avongrove and Rohini tea estate in Darjeeling had asked me to try some of their 2nd Flush Green teas, initially I hesitated when I heard “Green tea”, but when we tried this amazing Rohini Emerald Green tea I couldn’t resist from having this tea on my list as unlike common Darjeeling Green tea this tea did not have that chlorophloric assault on the palate as the tea was not grassy at all and was rather floral and mellow in the cup and also in the dry leaf state this tea had the bright greenish appearance and above all when we steeped the tea for 3 minutes and stained the tea into the cup, the colour of the infused tea was totally greenish for which the tea has been named as ” Emerald”, many customers of ours had been requesting us for good Darjeeling Green teas and I was not being able to fulfill their request for at least last two season but this time I think many of them will be very happy to have this tea and above all the this is a price friendly tea too !

2nd Flush 2007 - The Hunt for an exclusive selection of 2nd Flush 2007

2007-05-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today is the 26th of May`07 and we have finally crossed the so called “Banjee” period which is rather a cursed period for both the tea planter and the seller, we have been flooded with samples from various plantations in Darjeeling.

The first sample, we tasted in this 2nd Flush is Risheehat (sftgfop-1) clonal flowery, this tea had a very good blossom and the overall value in the dry leaf state was good, but when I steeped the tea and made a cup, the tea spoke for itself, sadly it had a very weak liquor and the aroma was very weak too, so this is a clear sign of “treated 2nd Flush” meaning the tea had been given extra fermentation and firing than usual to get the 2nd Flush character, the china musk of the same plantation also did not impress me much as the liquor was a bit too dark than the usual muscatel teas so this did create a lot of difference to get a proper 2nd Flush muscatel character in the tea.

I `m sorry to say that I cannot write about all the teas that I tasted but I’m trying to bring out the current scenario about the teas which are known by our most valued customers.

Regarding the Castleton teas, first of all lets talk about the clonals, well we tasted about 9 samples of the Castleton Tippy clonal ftgfop-1 and clonal ftgfop-1 but this did not impress me much as in 2nd Flush I`m looking for something which is coppery in cup and I`m sick and tired of tasting light and bright stuffs…

But again while I liked the china special teas and specially talking about the world famous Castleton Muscatel ftgfop-1 teas, the lines were great, as it has finally found back its actual character after a long time, I`m definitely going to get an invoice of this type for my tea loving customers…

Talking about Jungpana and Goomtee teas, well all tea lovers know about these garden`s products, well initially when I first tasted some Jungpana samples I was not happy as it still had some green leafs which is of coarse not a good sign of good 2nd Flush and also I complained against the price as I strictly believe in “value for money” teas…. but not to worry while I tasted the next following samples after the initial one I was very happy with the teas, it had the usual Jungpana character of Muscatel and Floral notes, I`m trying my best to have a great tea from this garden……..Talking about Goomtee its nice to see better invoices from this garden than last year, specially the Muscatel variety which had a good body too,I`ve send my bid for this tea and I`m going to try my best to have this particular invoice in my list…

On the other hand I`m very sad to write about the Phuguri Tippy clonal ftgfop-1 teas this year as till date I’ve not been able to get even 1 sample that suits my palate though this tea was one of the best seller of last year’s 2nd Flush, I`m a bit nervous for this tea but I’ve a started searching for a better alternative for this tea…

2nd Flush, 2007 - An approach !

2007-04-30T03:29:00.000-07:00

An approach to 2nd Flush 2007:

Today is the 28th of April `07 and we are standing at the centre of the dormant period better known as “Banjee” period in Darjeeling, during this period of time a dormant leaf rises between the usual 2 leaf and a bud and soaks all the essential oil (available in the two leaf and a bud), as a result of which the aroma is not very pronounced in the tea and the appearance of the leafs are very dull, specially talking about the shelve life of the tea, its almost useless to buy these teas specially for tea lovers and Merchants who doesn’t blend their teas, as if the teas are freshly manufactured and tea tasting are done immediately then the overall value of the teas will be almost perfect but each day the flavor of the tea will go down, these teas are specially meant for blending with low quality teas.

Well talking about the 2nd Flush, it normally happens from the last weeks of May or June 1st week, this is one of the most premium harvest done in Darjeeling tea making, this period is so tender and delicate that some gardens miss out this period while fine tuning their machinery, this is also the best time to make the world famous muscatel teas but the raw leafs required for making the Muscatel teas last only for about 7-10 day in each individual gardens… Its also a very big risk and responsibility to buy these teas as without huge experience and expert tea tasting skills one can land up buying the post Banjee teas instead of the real 2nd Flush. We have already started keeping a very close look on individual gardens and as usual we promise to keep the same standard for all our respected customers!

Castleton Tea Estate

2007-03-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

On the 29th of March, I visited the famous Castleton Tea Estate, actually we have a huge order from one of our most valuable Japanese customer, I reached the garden at around 10:00am and it was really very hot so the production was massive but the black teas seemed a bit too dry and the green leafs were covered with blackish shade so it clearly indicated that we were approaching the mid 1st Flush period, I also met many foreign buyers at the garden and they were all in a hurry to buy their stocks for first flush as this is the ultimate time and after this the prices will go very low but anyone can imagine the quality too….

I was also interested in an invoice but the next morning when I re-tasted the tea I just cancelled as the tea was getting really bitter but I am sure the gardens really knows how to sell its teas…anyways there was a big company from America who wanted to overbid and buy my White tea but again it was not possible for him as our company had already booked this invoice long time back, anyways regarding the Moonlight tea, I am very excited to offer this limited edition tea as this tea will be highly appreciated by tea lovers who were waiting for this invoice.

I am not sure for how long I can offer this White exotica as this tea is produced in a very less quantity, it's the Castleton Moonlight/White On the Ex-4………….

Darjeeling 1st Flush, 2007

2007-03-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well today is 12th of March and for the last 2-4 days the temperature is a bit stable, so many gardens will have raw leafs in a much better quantity, many gardens have come up with very good early First Flush season teas but mostly they have made in smaller lots as the temperature which is of coarse very important for tea growing was not favorable….I’ve been traveling to gardens with my European friends(my buyers) and we have together brought many superb teas, but these teas are for their customers so I cannot offer everything in our website…..also on the other side I’ve been clogged with mails about First Flush teas and I know how curious are my clients as I’ve kept them waiting for a very long time till now…well please have patience! I’ll definitely have the best of the crops as usual, I had again called up the Margaret’s hope factory assistant Manager Mr.Rawat today and he has confirmed me that our china invoice will be ready by Monday, I asked him why are they taking such a long time? The answer was first of all Margaret’s Hope T.E. has one of the highest tea growing sectors in Darjeeling and usually it’s a late 1st Flush starter and another factor is that the garden authority knows what type of clientele we deal with and above all the relations that we have with all the tea estates that when they say they have made 1st Flush teas for us then they mean it, where no winter or any sort of copper leaves will be mixed, which most of the Merchant around the globe suffer from, as it took 3 generations for us to understand each phenomenon( change) of the leaf types with the changing seasons…

All these days I’ve been either visiting gardens or been tasting different teas till my tongue went numb……but when the date crossed 16th of March 2007, I changed my thoughts regarding great tea gardens, now I started looking for teas which are more greenish in appearance, (the actual character of First Flush) more floral and less bitter in taste so I again started calling up gardens and asked them to present their samples, when suddenly on the 17th of March 2007 Mr.J.C.Pande (Manager) of Barnesbeg plantation came up with one of his excellent china invoice sample, I immediately laid my tea tasting sets and I was surprised with the end result as this garden was known for its heavy and dark liquor teas ,but this time it was totally different the cup was very light and the aroma was pleasant and the overall cup quality was superb as the after taste ended with full floral and sweet notes, so there was no looking back or waiting for another sample this time, I immediately confirmed the lot and I made sure to have all the teas they had in this invoice ,I must say tea making in Darjeeling is getting competitive each day as all the gardens are coming up with great teas and innovative ideas of making great teas each season, but again I `m proud to have the EX-1 invoice which is the 1st lot of the china type from Barnesbeg Tea Estate …….

Tea Tasting at Thurbo Garden (Mr. T.Gupta with Rajiv)

On the evening of 19th March 2007, I was called up by Mr. A.Gurung (Asst.Manager factory) of Thurbo Tea Estate and was invited to visit the garden on the 21st of March 2007, I was excited to visit the Thurbo tea garden which has a reputation of producing the most aromatic and high quality Darjeeling tea standards in Darjeeling…….so on the particular day I took my camera by my side and left for the gardens, when I reached the garden another surprise was waiting for me! And that is: I met Mr.T.Gupta (Senior Manager of the Garden) who is also a legendary tea maker in Darjeeling, I was nervous to join the tea tasting with him, to be very honest I didn’t know what should I comment in front of him ……… I was introduced to him by the Assistant Manager of the Garden and he started asking me several questions, I don’t know actually what I answered him as I was a bit scared if I would speak out some wrong ideas in front of this tea guru, but every thing settled down when I spoke out my love and experiences regarding clonal teas in First Flush season and it seemed he was impressed! Anyways after that around 8 invoice samples were laid at the tasting room and he invited me to start with the tasting……I started with Dj-2 (which was already sold) the cup was great but the orange liquor didn’t not impress me so much as I was there for traditional 1st Flush teas ,then I tried Dj-4 which was a clonal invoice too but for me it was a bit roasted, we can say this tea will mature well in future but I was scared that even the roasted character in the tea would get pronounced with time so I ignored this tea too, then I tasted several other invoice samples but I was just not satisfied , so they asked me to try some of the White tea they had made, the craftsmanship of this tea was beautiful ,the cup was great but I’m not very fond of Green teas so for me this was just like relaxing my tongue for another round of tea tasting, after sometime they offered me their best clonal invoice which consisted of 70% AB-2 clone and Phoobshering 132 clone, the tea looked great in its dry leaf state as every little leaf looked greenish and consisted a lot of silver tips in it, I asked them to set a brew for me with this tea, and when the tea was ready I was stunned! The infused leafs were very even which means the rolling was perfect in the tea and the aroma was mouth watering……when the tea slightly cooled I took an immediate sip in the cup and I think I had one of the best sip of great teas in my life, the aroma of the tea was very refreshing and had clear hints of raw juicy fruits and the most appealing thing was the after taste as the balance of the briskness with the aroma in the tea was so perfect that it made the tongue go heavy and would stick with it….so again there was no saying no to this tea and I just jumped for this invoice and they could not deny as of coarse due to my company name behind me……I’m sure all my tea connoisseur customers would appreciate the tea very much and I’m very glad to have Thurbo (ftgfop-1) Tippy Clonal Dj-6………….

Thurbo Manager and Rajiv

Darjeeling 1st Flush, 2007

2007-03-09T03:14:00.000-08:00

Well, its going smooth till now, when on the evening of 25th of February, it started raining again and it was a bit obvious that the temperature was again very low and it again created complications for the new shoots and buds to grow rapidly, I woke up next morning and sat on the lawn with a pot of Lingia Muscatel 2nd Flush, which is one of my favorite morning tea as its really very pronounced with its character, and looked at the sky and asked “now what”? as I was hoping that the last week of February would be fully sunny and we would have a better temperature average and this would lead us to the maximum production of early 1st Flush crop, this is very important as many Merchant claim to sell First Flush but every one is not lucky enough to have the early crop which is rare and reflects the original character of the garden, after the long winters.

On 27th morning I was really curious so again called up few gardens, firstly I called up Mr. Jha (Suptd.) of the Jayshree group for Sungma, Risheehat and Balasun Tea Estates, as I had already tasted some Risheehat pre-First Flush on the 2nd week of February, which was a pure winter crop and not anything close to a First Flush type and I had ignored the invoice, but I was more curious about Sungma tea which is the best garden of this group but again this tea garden is not very famous for First Flush as it’s a late riser meaning it starts its First Flush from mid-March when other Gardens are almost going towards mid First Flush, well he told me that they have just started a first round plucking and the temperature is moving between 10-15 degrees Celsius to the maximum during the day and 6-7 degree Celsius to the minimum at night, so this clearly means the 1st invoice will be produced during 11th-15th of March and a very good invoice would take at least one more week from this given time.

Soon after that I got a very important news from the superintendent of Puttabong and North Tukvar that they have almost cleared the winter leaves and they are getting the new shoots and buds of First Flush 2007,well the temperature is also good as its moving towards 18-19 degrees Celsius at the morning and this is very good for the Puttabong Tea estate as it is situated on the proper Darjeeling hills, so we can expect very good clonals within 10th of March and the china types might take a week or so more …….

Also, there is a very Good news from the Thurbo Tea estate situated at the Mirik valley, that the temperature is ranging from 15-19 degrees Celsius during the day which will add a cupid more for its exclusive “tippy clonal” teas, but at night its dropping to 4-5 degrees Celsius as this garden also has some highest altitude clonal fields, but that does not matter as we are sure that we`ll have an exclusive invoice from this Garden within next week. …………………..

Well, from the 4th of March things were turning towards better, even the night temperatures were rising, so we were expecting very good clonal crops, I was keeping a very close look on the Puttabong invoices as they had a good Autumn crop last year and the first two china type invoices was better after the trail crops but in this period of time the quantity of each invoice is very limited as it’s the exclusive tender shoots and buds that are used to create this world class Darjeeling teas…..but we had already booked an invoice in advance which was of course a clonal line ,so on the morning of 7th March, Mr.Somani the Superintendent of Puttabong T.E. gave me a call and said that they had manufactured a superb clonal invoice and asked me to taste the sample and decide very quickly or they would send the sample to their European buyers also.

My curiosity was growing with the clock ticking beside me, finally the sample arrived, and I immediately took out the aluminum foil and threw the tea over it, Oh! Man, the tea is made of 50% silver tips and the second leaf with bright shine on it, I laid the tasting set with the sand timer for tasting the tea immediately and after a perfect brew I left the tea to cool down to 80 degrees Celsius (which is a perfect temperature to drink good black teas), I sniffed into the infused leaves and it just smelled fresh floral notes without any grassy smell in it and the silver tips had unfolded to exotic floral aroma, I immediately took a full sip into the cup and didn’t feel like throwing it out of my mouth as the tea was very aromatic, very delicate briskness due to its clonal character and the after taste was amazing as it would make a tea lover tongue go heavy after tasting……

the major constituents of this supreme tea is RR -17/144 clone ( for the mellow character and sharpness) and AB – 2 clone (for floral aroma) and above all this superb tea is grown at an elevation over 3500 feet above sea level and this clonal exotica is known as the Puttabong clonal queen sftgfop-1 ,Invoice no:DJ-4.

On the 8th of March I was invited to the Singbulli Tea Estate as this garden makes the best AB-2 clonal teas in the mirik valley area,on the 9th of March I took my camera and went to the garden, it really feels nice to go across the Mirik valley as its very green all around the place, anyways I finally reached the garden around 9:30am and had a breakfast with the Manager and his wife of Singbulli Tea Estate(Mr & Mrs Mantri), well I was eager to taste the teas, we went to the factory below the Manager`s bungalow, some of the china and assam variety teas were shown but those did not fit my taste buds, I don`t understand how people admire Singbulli`s First Flush china type variety teas , well must admit it’s the best alternative at this period of time as it’s the cheapest tea around, well coming back to the point,

I was left speechless when they showed me their clonal delight,as the tea was made out of 80% silver unopened buds,but unlike a White tea , this tea is slightly fermented,but again this is rare and this does not happen every day, as this is the best tea I ever tried after the Silver tips Imperial tea from Makaibari that I had tasted some 2-3years back when it made a world record for Darjeeling teas… anyways I wanted the teas by any means, but again trouble was not leaving by my side as a Japanaese buyer was also there to buy the tea, so the Manager had asked me to wait till 10th of March, so that the other buyer could place her bid for the tea, but luckily she could not come any close to my bid and I got the tea confirmed and I`m proud to have the Best tea in the world and its called the Singbulli Clonal Delight(Reserve), well the quantity is very less as this type of tea is rare but anyways I can bet my trade on this! We have the absolute best First Flush Darjeeling tea in the world.

Rise your cup!

2007-02-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

Darjeeling Tea - 1st Flush, 2007

2007-02-23T02:56:00.000-08:00

As the Month of January passed by with dark clouds up on the sky, we were all excited and eagerly waiting for the winter rains which stands out to be a blessing for a 1st Flush crop, last year there were no winter rains, so we suffered a stiff drought which mostly damaged the crops and the price factor was also very high.

The 1st week of February made all of us smile as it seemed this year the Gods had mercy on us as we had this winter rains in the perfect time, soon we called up several gardens after a couple of days and we got the information that some of the gardens in Risheehat area had a first round production which is usually known as the trial invoice before the perfect 1st Flush production, this 1st round production usually contains a maximum of 9-15kgs as its very hard to find the tender shoots and buds as during this time the crop is still full of coppery leaves which means its the time between winter and early spring, so in this trial crop the infusion can be similar of a very good 1st Flush crop but the character can be determined by the aroma as during this time the aroma is not very aggressive as it should be! And the character lacks the after taste factor…..

Soon on the 2nd week of February we had another rain fall which was even better, it rained continuously for 2 days but all of a sudden it poured with a throw of hell stones, we were all scared as this could damage the newly born shoots and buds but it only lasted about 10 minutes and it still rained all night long when suddenly I got up in the morning of 14th February , I could not believe my eyes as it had snowed and the whole Darjeeling town looked white all over …like heaven! Again this showed a very good sign of exotic 1st Flush crop as the snow will sit below the tea bushes and when it melts the crop would be absolutely safe from drought.

On the 20th of February, I visited the Castleton T.E. and the temperature was still cold so it clearly indicated that it would take another couple of weeks for a pronounced First Flush crop, this garden is famous for its china origin variety teas and initially as a first crop we will receive the tea from the Assamese origin variety which is standard in terms of quality, but they already had two rounds of plucking and it still had coppery/yellow leaves which indicated the old leaves. So, we have to wait till the mid week of March to get a good First Flush of this garden.

On the 21st of February, I called up the factory Asst. Manager of Margaret’s hope T.E. and was a bit happy to know that the temperature is changing at the evenings so it’s a good news for us as they already had 3 rounds of trial crops and we are expecting the 1st Invoice anywhere between 27th of February – 6th of March.

On the 23rd of February, I called up the Asst.Manager of Thurbo T.E. and he said that they had a trail crop between 20th-22nd of February and it still had yellow/copper leaves, and these yellow/coppery leaves are very important to be removed as during the winters not all old buds and shoots can be sorted out, so they act as a barrier for the new shoots and buds to grow, but again this plantation is situated in the Mirik valley of Darjeeling district which is slightly warmer than the Darjeeling hills, so we are expecting a very good and pronounced crop on the 1st week of March.

Tea Emporium with New Avatar !

2007-02-23T02:52:00.000-08:00

Tea Emporium new website was official launch on 19th February, 2007