This year, Upton Tea Imports proposes more than 40 different
Darjeelings. I decided to check more than half of them to see if the
other side of Atlantic has something better to offer in this field
than Old Europe. I describe briefly the results of my tasting which
are quite subjective and certainly influenced by my personal taste.
Samples (2 grams) were steeped for 4 min. in tap water (180 ml, 95°C)
filtered with Britta filter.
The 25 tasted samples may be separated into four following groups:
1) Fine but rather pricey teas:
TD93 Castleton DJ-124, fine fruity flavor with overtones of exotic
wood. Light muscatel SF tea. Very fine tea.
TD83 Namring EX-5, sweet complex floral and smooth FF. Very fine tea.
TD77 Phuguri Tippy DJ-13, fine floral, "sweet green almond", flavor,
smooth cup
TD97 Sungma DJ-5, fine, complex floral flavor. Fine green leaf.
2) Very good, not overly expensive teas:
TD23 Puttabong DJ-91 fine floral smooth Second Flush
TD67 Puttabong DJ-94, fine floral, spicy, smooth Second Flush. Very
green leaf for SF tea (In-between-like). Better than TD91.
TD26 Nagri DJ-10, sweet floral (jasmine-like) smooth tea. Fine leaf.
TD31 Margaret's Hope DJ-33, rather rich sweet floral-fruity flavor,
smooth cup. Fine leaf.
TD51 Avongrove DJ-44, sweet, fruity with hints of exotic wood and a
trace of muscatel, darker cup. Good everyday DJ tea.
3) Good, average teas, sometimes more expensive than those in the
group No2:
TD52 Jogamaya Second Flush , sweet, fruity, medium-bodied and smooth
tea, gives rather dark cup, reminds classic SF type tea, good and
economic everyday tea. Fine leaf.
TD65 Phuguri DJ-91, fine fruity and smooth SF
TD27 North Tukvar DJ-53 sweet, floral, green medium-bodied and smooth
tea. Fine green leaf.
TD54 Namring Upper EX-111, sweet fruity, medium-bodied all-round tea
TD29 Risheehat DJ-24, fine floral, smooth First Flush tea
TD90 Puttabong Supreme DJ-6, green, fine floral, smooth FF. Fine very
green leaf.
TD58 Okayati DJ-10, fruity,a bit vegetal smooth tea with traces of
floral and spicy tones.
TD63 Arya DJ-1, fine green floral FF.Very green and fine leaf .
TD68 Puttabong DJ-271, sweet, fruity, medium-bodied and smooth tea
(SF)
TD59 Orange Valley DJ-74, sweet, fruity with hints of citrus, smooth
tea
TD88 Orange Valley DJ-4, sweet, honey-like flavor.Very green,fine
leaf.
TD62 Arya DJ-61, sweet, fruity average SF
TD37 North Tukvar DJ-19, fine floral good FF
TD91 Puttabong Supreme DJ-53, fine floral, smooth FF
TD54 Namring Upper EX-16, fine floral and fruity, very smooth tea.
Very good all-round Darjeeling tea.
4) Poor quality tea:
TD92 Sungma DJ-163, unpleasant off-flavor
It's not so bad. In fact, all these teas are drinkable with the only
one exception (TD92).

Karel Valter