Well, this is an interesting topic.

My understanding of the Darjeeling mystery:

Darjeeling is traditionally a black tea. Due to this tradition it
remains a black tea, but thanks to the trends that Scott mentioned up
top towards a 'new darjeeling', a variety of teas made from the CS in
that region, which are technically green or oolong, are uniformly
called darjeeling. Thanks to this, depending on how focused your local
tea seller is on breadth of darjeeling, we are blessed to be able to
find a full spectrum of very green to black first flush teas. From the
second flush on, the trend seems to be to follow with stronger
oxidations. Many American sellers, depending on taste of course, tend
to choose a greener first flush to show off the marked difference
between it and the follow harvests. Of course their European (more UK
than anywhere else) counterparts tend to prefer the darker, more
wholesome first flush.

Shen's mention of an "insipid" quality after a few steeps could either
be due to the infusing of the tea with boiling water, which is great
if you have one of the more traditional black darjeelings, but can
adversely affect the greener modern varieties, or of course it may
just not be good tea? I would love to hear if you try out other
temperatures Shen.

I have tried a few of the first flush darjeelings for the season, does
anyone have any thoughts on those they have tried? I have enjoyed the
lemon grass aromas and the sweet citrus mouth of the second and third
infusions in the greener styles, any thoughts?

AMA

Ravenna Roller wrote:
I have tried a few of the first flush darjeelings for the season, does
anyone have any thoughts on those they have tried? I have enjoyed the
lemon grass aromas and the sweet citrus mouth of the second and third
infusions in the greener styles, any thoughts?

I just want to say that I have just recently tried the Rohini Enigma,
and it's not exactly like the darjeeling I drank as a kid, but it seems
like a much higher grade version of that. Very open and flowery, with
an incredibly strong fruit and floral flavour when you first sip it,
which decays down into a tannic tea aftertaste but without the grass clipping
sort of flavour that I am accustomed to with modern Darjeelings. Highly
recommended.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I just want to say that I have just recently tried the Rohini Enigma,
and it's not exactly like the darjeeling I drank as a kid, but it seems
like a much higher grade version of that. Very open and flowery, with
an incredibly strong fruit and floral flavour when you first sip it,
which decays down into a tannic tea aftertaste but without the grass clipping
sort of flavour that I am accustomed to with modern Darjeelings. Highly
recommended.
--scott


I will second that opinion. Many of the Darjeelings I have tasted
recently are more reminiscent of oolongs than of red teas. I have been
very impressed by some of the Rohini estate teas of late. There is one
that I nicknamed "Juicy Fruit" because it is so lively. Another very
interesting darjeeling is called "Silver Thunder" which I "think" is
processed more like a white tea.

Now you went and got me in the mood for some, will have to brew it up
after work tonight.

Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net

On May 31, 12:40 am, Mike Petro wrote:
I just want to say that I have just recently tried the Rohini Enigma,
and it's not exactly like the darjeeling I drank as a kid, but it seems
like a much higher grade version of that. Very open and flowery, with
an incredibly strong fruit and floral flavour when you first sip it,
which decays down into a tannic tea aftertaste but without the grass clipping
sort of flavour that I am accustomed to with modern Darjeelings. Highly
recommended.
--scott

I will second that opinion. Many of the Darjeelings I have tasted
recently are more reminiscent of oolongs than of red teas. I have been
very impressed by some of the Rohini estate teas of late. There is one
that I nicknamed "Juicy Fruit" because it is so lively. Another very
interesting darjeeling is called "Silver Thunder" which I "think" is
processed more like a white tea.

Now you went and got me in the mood for some, will have to brew it up
after work tonight.

Mikehttp://www.pu-erh.net

Dear friends,

Ankit Lochan has posted an observation which indeed is from up close!
However, let me try to Demystify the Green in Darjeeling Black.
Traditionally, Darjeeling Planters pluck very fine. And then these
tender shoots, which as it is comes from the tiny chinary varieties,
are subjected to high degree of Withering. Withered Leaf : Made Tea
ratio of 60 % is not uncommon.
What happens due to such high degree of wither is that the shoots have
just sufficient amount of juice concentrates in them to ooze out and
cover itself when rolled under pressure.
Now comes the cach ; when the average recovery is 60 %, it is but
natural that there would be some shoots which have virtually dried up
during withering. These shoots are the ones which do get cell damage
and subsequent Oxidation, but lack the juices to cover themselves
with.
And hence, they remain Green inspite of being Black!

Any comments?

Regards,
Jayesh pandya.

I've had every major estate green or oolong Darjeeling over the past
couple of years since my local tea shoppe opened. I can say none
really ever made me regret when I ran out including Rohini. I keep
reading about the wonderful taste of Darjeeling. There was the one
poster who traveled between Darjeeling and Germany who seemed to make
the point the second flush (after the rains) is the desirable
Darjeeling. I checked my old labels and everything is first flush.
So I'm curious what flush is this?

Jim

PS It looks like to me a great Darjeeling would have to fall in your
lap more than what is available in the market place.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
I just want to say that I have just recently tried the Rohini Enigma,
and it's not exactly like the darjeeling I drank as a kid, but it seems
like a much higher grade version of that. Very open and flowery, with
an incredibly strong fruit and floral flavour when you first sip it,
which decays down into a tannic tea aftertaste but without the grass clipping
sort of flavour that I am accustomed to with modern Darjeelings. Highly
recommended.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On May 31, 9:01 am, Space Cowboy wrote:

PS It looks like to me a great Darjeeling would have to fall in your
lap more than what is available in the market place.

This is definitely true in my case. I have some friends, with direct
estate connections, who have hooked me up some "pride of the estate"
lots. A marked difference from the average online fare. I have one
friend in particular who has started retailing these truly exclusive
lots, often only a kg or two is made available but they are truly
spectacular as far as the genre goes. One particularly noteworthy one
(Red Thunder I think) was bought entirely by TTG in NYC. So they are
around, just not plentiful.

--
Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net

Jayesh has hit the nail on the head. Very hard wither causes some
fine leaf to be so dry it cannot ferment, so remains green. For those
who are picky about nomenclature these particles are actualy White
Tea. The moisture, less fine leaf, does ferment to become Black Tea.
Unlike an Oolong which may be 50% fermented overall (all the particles
the same fermentation) the early flush Darjeeling is 50% fermented on
AVERAGE. I resurrect an old post (10 Jan 2004) below - Darjeeling
results from Cause No. 6. Incidently the main reason for change from a
fully fermented to a patchily fermented Darjeeling was that Lyons
imported vast amounts of fully fermented Darjeeling into UK for their
Maison Lyon blend - fully fermented as in those days Darjeeling was
taken with milk. When Lyons discontinued their blend (in the 1960s
(?)) the Darjeeling producers had quickly to find a new market - they
found Gemany and had to lighten the cup as it was to be drunk without
milk. Anyone looking for the "old fashioned" Darjeeling taste should
specify an Autumnal flush - for example Darjeeling Autumn Leaves
(Code: BI07) from www.nbtea.co.uk

Quote from rfdt Archives:

Yes Jon, these teas are indeed less fermented "greenish blacks".
There
are several ways to make a "green" tea (which is essentially a tea
without oxidation) or a "greenish tea" which is a tea with minimal
oxidation. In a tea factory some of these are purposeful methods,
others the results of poor processing.

The main causes a
1. Inactivate oxidising enzymes before rolling using steam (Japanese
method)= green tea
2. Inactivate oxidising enzymes using dry heat (Chinese panning or
roasting method) = green tea
3. Avoid initiating oxidation by very gentle handling and drying =
white tea (a variant of green).
4. Oxidise for a very short time (minimal rolling, or CTC cutting) -
dry as soon as short rolling or CTC cutting is complete =
insufficient
time for full oxidation to black = anything from a green to a
greenish
black tea.
5. Oxidise at low temperature - this slows down enzyme action =
partial oxidation only = greenish black.
6. Hard wither (to a very low leaf moisture content) - this inhibits
enzyme action = partial oxidation only = greenish black
7. Insufficient oxygen present during oxidation (fermenting layers
too
thick) = partial oxidation only = anything from green to greenish
black

The partially oxidised oolongs fall into group 4. above though they
have other processing inputs (sun withering and leaf agitation and
high firing) that give their unique character.

The "greenish blacks" you find at high elevations in Sri Lanka and
Darjeeling are the result of partial oxidation due to very hard
withers and cool ambient temperature. It is perfectly possible to
make
a fully oxidised (black) Uva or Darjeeling, and in fact during the
rains in Darjeeling when a hard wither cannot be achieved, this is
exactly what happens (but these are not exported). Similarly we had
to heat up fermenter air to 90 deg F in early spring in Turkey as the
cool weather gave us a greenish tea - not at all what the Turks like
to drink.

The type of tea and degree of oxidation required is driven by the
market (or the producer's perception of the market). As increasingly
Darjeelings and flavoury high grown Ceylons are bought by non-milked
tea markets, so the dark srong liquors required in the English market
have given way to lighter ones, and the dry leaf shows green colour
rather than jet black . Producers could revert if the market
required
- the process is flexible and a skilled manager can alter his teas at
will. My point (in my previous posting) was to remind tea lovers that
a
tea's characteristics may change with time even if the names stay the
same.

Unquote


Nigel at Teacraft




On May 31, 12:48 pm, teapandya wrote:


Ankit Lochan has posted an observation which indeed is from up close!
However, let me try to Demystify the Green in Darjeeling Black.
Traditionally, Darjeeling Planters pluck very fine. And then these
tender shoots, which as it is comes from the tiny chinary varieties,
are subjected to high degree of Withering. Withered Leaf : Made Tea
ratio of 60 % is not uncommon.
What happens due to such high degree of wither is that the shoots have
just sufficient amount of juice concentrates in them to ooze out and
cover itself when rolled under pressure.
Now comes the cach ; when the average recovery is 60 %, it is but
natural that there would be some shoots which have virtually dried up
during withering. These shoots are the ones which do get cell damage
and subsequent Oxidation, but lack the juices to cover themselves
with.
And hence, they remain Green inspite of being Black!

Any comments?

Regards,
Jayesh pandya.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -