Sampling Darjeeling

Fully oxidized tea leaves for a robust cup.


May 23rd, '13, 18:33
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Sampling Darjeeling

by saxon75 » May 23rd, '13, 18:33

I was looking through the TeaVendor threads for black teas recently and the posts in the Tea Emporium thread piqued my interest in Darjeelings, which are a type of tea that I have basically no experience with. The first-flush listings on the Tea Emporium site definitely sound interesting, but they're also on the expensive side, and the smallest packets they sell are 100 grams.

Since I've never tried Darjeeling before and have no idea whether I'd even like it, I'm a little hesitant to jump straight into buying 100-gram packets. Does anyone know of a good source for smaller samples?

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May 23rd, '13, 18:47
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Re: Sampling Darjeeling

by sherubtse » May 23rd, '13, 18:47

saxon75 wrote:Since I've never tried Darjeeling before and have no idea whether I'd even like it, I'm a little hesitant to jump straight into buying 100-gram packets. Does anyone know of a good source for smaller samples?
Yup. Try this:

http://camellia-sinensis.com/en/tea/tas ... -2013-inde

(Though one of those sample packs is an oolong.)

Best wishes,
sherubtse

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May 23rd, '13, 22:12
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Re: Sampling Darjeeling

by Devoted135 » May 23rd, '13, 22:12

Tea Trekker offers small samples, but I wouldn't call them particularly affordable.

May 23rd, '13, 23:38
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Re: Sampling Darjeeling

by ethan » May 23rd, '13, 23:38

Upton Tea sells small samples. W/ s&h being a factor, you might as well order a lot of samples & not just one Flush.

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May 24th, '13, 10:34
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Re: Sampling Darjeeling

by Evan Draper » May 24th, '13, 10:34

ethan wrote:Upton Tea sells small samples. W/ s&h being a factor, you might as well order a lot of samples & not just one Flush.
+1. Upton sells small samples of everything, and the Darjeeling selection at Upton is RIDICULOUS. Want to taste spring, summer, autumnal and winter flush selections from the same estate? Want to try different clonal strains from the same estate? You're going to need more cupping sets! One caveat: they don't always put harvest date on there, so it helps to phone them and ask. Sometimes they have what look like identical teas listed for sale, as one is last year's harvest.

May 25th, '13, 14:14
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Re: Sampling Darjeeling

by saxon75 » May 25th, '13, 14:14

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. I did know about Upton's samples, but I wasn't sure whether they'd be a good source for Darjeeling. I know they're fairly well-regarded for Assam, but it seems like most people around here are pretty down on them for everything else.

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