Darjeeling tea is easily available with tea vendors, across the world. So making a choice before a purchase is a narrow decision. If you want to experience the joy of sipping Darjeeling team make use of these simple ways to evaluate your likes before you find your wallet.
Remember, most tea vendors are tea nerds blooming tea balls and they love their selection as much as they love anything else in the world. The world of tea is run by tea tasters who select teas for their customers and your chosen vendor maybe delivering the same taste on and on.
Keep in mind, whether it be a White, Oolong, Black, Puerh, Yellow or Blooming all come from ‘camellia sinensis’, a plant whose leaves are physically turned into different forms. Well Darjeeling also makes a variety of Oolong and white teas. So try doing things what you would do to a Taiwanese Oolong or a Chinese white. If you want to have a good experience with Darjeeling teas or teas in general do not brand or label it. Never say Darjeelings’ are Muscatels. There are thousands of small factories producing few kilograms of finest teas every day. Make the most out of it. There is more fun to switch and enjoy more different qualities as there are 74 tea gardens in Darjeeling with fancy or odd names and moreover with a peculiar characteristics of its own.
Number one, it is always better to find a friend who enjoys Darjeeling tea and flaunts about the experience. Try his place, if you have never tried a Darjeeling before because if you jump to buy one without knowing what you prefer you may land up buying the wrong thing. Ask him about good vendors in town and take some information on the web. Some Darjeeling’s are robust, some mellow, some with a lively bite and some deliver slow so the flavour profile varies from estate to estate as well as season to season. It is always better to learn before you buy one. If you do not have a friend and still want to learn about Darjeeling teas visit forums and discussions-like steepster.com, ratetea.net, teachat.com, worldoftea.com and go through blogs with Darjeeling tea reviews.
Now, you finished learning, you’ve got to make a choice. Start your new excursion by visiting a nearby vendor. Talk to the vendor order a pot of tea ask for suggestions and judge what he knows about Darjeeling. Mean while see what he has to offer and buy few ounces of different estates or varieties as samplers. If you are buying online you could buy few samplers to start with. Most online tea vendors offer free samplers, you could build a collection of samples.
After you buy your samples here are few suggestions you could try and then decide to device your own methods. Open and place a little amount of the tea in a white sheet of paper. Visual appearance is very important as this is what determines the make of the leaf. Darjeeling tea is also about twist and curls, tea with open leaves is a tea less processed, these types of teas requires lower temperatures to unfurl the qualities and presents a lighter liquor or cup. It may deliver 2 -4 steeps but shorter the time in between the steeps the results could be better, try 1 minute. The standard Darjeeling with a fine twist and curl require temperatures just below boiling 90-95 C. To enjoy the full body of these makes steep it for 2-3 minutes. You can lessen the time of steep after 2-3 steeps.