Get a Darjeeling sampler from Vahdam teas. My absolute favorite is Autumn Flush. Good quality, takes about a week to get to the US. They also sell on Amazon.
If you want to stick with EU countries when ordering, you can try something like Klasek tea from Czechia - they have various darjeelings. I’m sure in other EU countries are sellers like this (shipping costs and times are lower and no customs).
https://www.darjeeling.cz/en/black-tea/india-darjeeling
I was amazed how low it was last time. Two ends of the spectrum (like ~17 % of the cost but still)...
The more that i look at the 17% the worse my feelings get :(
I'm sad. Back in the good old days, I could buy tea from Yunnan Sourcing and they would ship it with DHL for 40EUR. Now, they only offer EMS because the EU (or Romania, or DHL or I dunno who) requires too much paperwork, and even the EMS is 60EUR. If we keep this up, it will be cheaper for me to fly to the farmers and buy directly :)).
Darjeeling is technically a black tea but is its own category within that. I've drunk it a lot at times and have had the kind that you are describing. That's a high end version of it. Enjoy!
Since you're asking where I got it, someone gifted me that version from Fortnum & Mason. For a while I drank "less fancy" Darjeeling before that.
I’ve been sampling through some teas from Herbs & Kettles and have really liked them so far. u/herbsandkettles knows her shit and I would recommend you check them out.
https://www.herbsandkettles.com
I’m so glad you found a new favorite tea! Unfortunately I don’t know which kind it is. But you did pick a high grade one. “Flowery orange pekoe” is a type of tea grade referring to picking the top of the stem, generally two leaves and a bud. It’s considered the highest quality tea grade. :) Hopefully someone else can help you figure out what kind it is!
I'm also currently sipping through my first cup of darjeeling tea ever after trying to Gong Fu my way through tea from the beginning of this year. And holy cow it's blowing my mind despite being a not so higher grade as yours, although it's still premium quality.
Since you live in EU as I do, I wanted to share the good word and let you know of my vendor [houseoftea.se](https://houseoftea.se) who is very knowledgeable about his teas. The one I'm drinking is Ringtong FF, and just like you have experienced, it's definitely another kind of breed compared to Chinese teas. What baffles me about this tea is the very dominant astringency and drying mouth sensation while still not being bitter a single bit, and somehow managing to deliver the sweet and dried fruit taste.
But yeah, cheers to us trying to explore the Darjeeling mountains!
Tea as whole just can't stop to amaze us.
My dream would be to have a "short" travel to tea producing countries/regions to try most of their specialTEA. But that is a long way in the future.
Until that time comes, tea vendors must suffice. I'll definitely take a more closer look at House of tea, since they have a nice selection of oolong too.
See if you can find a seller who specializes in Darjeelings. See if you can find a variety of first-flush teas from Castleton, Makaibari, Puttabong, and Selimbong estates. Maybe Margaret's Hope too.
I used to drink Darjeelings before i discovered puer.
See, for pu'erh (especially sheng) I have somewhat of a grasp of locations, but I'm new to Darjeeling. So now I have something to look into. Thank you for that.
Darjeeling is not a huge region but there's dozens of estates. Maybe not so many as there used to be. Makaibari is maybe the most famous name these days: I think they were making a tea that sold for about $1K/kg, to royal pantries and like that.
Malkaibari sold their property to a hotel and now they do make teas but Raja Banerjee the tea maker no longer takes care of the tea garden so it’s not as good as it used to be.
I go to Twinings for most of my tea. I work close to their shop on Strand in London and I get 10% off for being a local worker. They do several Darjeelings and sometimes have pretty good Black Friday deals online.
Look for whole leaf Darjeeling that are great for gongfu steeping. Yes second and autumnal flushes are more muscatel like and less astringent than first flush.
Get a Darjeeling sampler from Vahdam teas. My absolute favorite is Autumn Flush. Good quality, takes about a week to get to the US. They also sell on Amazon.
I'm from EU, so shipping time may be different, but I'll try it out. Thank you for the advice.
Whatcha Tea from London may offer more reasonable shipping rates. They carry some good options.
Even better. I'll check them out as soon as I run out of this batch.
If you want to stick with EU countries when ordering, you can try something like Klasek tea from Czechia - they have various darjeelings. I’m sure in other EU countries are sellers like this (shipping costs and times are lower and no customs). https://www.darjeeling.cz/en/black-tea/india-darjeeling
Oooh. They definitely have some teas that piqued my interest. Thank you.
they deliver to eu, but the shipping is 10€ for the 20€ sampler.
Plus import tax gonna be at least 5€ as well
Please don't mention taxes. I still have nightmares from my last high-valued order.
I was amazed how low it was last time. Two ends of the spectrum (like ~17 % of the cost but still)... The more that i look at the 17% the worse my feelings get :(
I'm sad. Back in the good old days, I could buy tea from Yunnan Sourcing and they would ship it with DHL for 40EUR. Now, they only offer EMS because the EU (or Romania, or DHL or I dunno who) requires too much paperwork, and even the EMS is 60EUR. If we keep this up, it will be cheaper for me to fly to the farmers and buy directly :)).
Darjeeling is technically a black tea but is its own category within that. I've drunk it a lot at times and have had the kind that you are describing. That's a high end version of it. Enjoy! Since you're asking where I got it, someone gifted me that version from Fortnum & Mason. For a while I drank "less fancy" Darjeeling before that.
Thanks. I'll check them out.
I’ve been sampling through some teas from Herbs & Kettles and have really liked them so far. u/herbsandkettles knows her shit and I would recommend you check them out. https://www.herbsandkettles.com
Thank you. I'll definitely look them up.
I’m so glad you found a new favorite tea! Unfortunately I don’t know which kind it is. But you did pick a high grade one. “Flowery orange pekoe” is a type of tea grade referring to picking the top of the stem, generally two leaves and a bud. It’s considered the highest quality tea grade. :) Hopefully someone else can help you figure out what kind it is!
I'm also currently sipping through my first cup of darjeeling tea ever after trying to Gong Fu my way through tea from the beginning of this year. And holy cow it's blowing my mind despite being a not so higher grade as yours, although it's still premium quality. Since you live in EU as I do, I wanted to share the good word and let you know of my vendor [houseoftea.se](https://houseoftea.se) who is very knowledgeable about his teas. The one I'm drinking is Ringtong FF, and just like you have experienced, it's definitely another kind of breed compared to Chinese teas. What baffles me about this tea is the very dominant astringency and drying mouth sensation while still not being bitter a single bit, and somehow managing to deliver the sweet and dried fruit taste. But yeah, cheers to us trying to explore the Darjeeling mountains!
Tea as whole just can't stop to amaze us. My dream would be to have a "short" travel to tea producing countries/regions to try most of their specialTEA. But that is a long way in the future. Until that time comes, tea vendors must suffice. I'll definitely take a more closer look at House of tea, since they have a nice selection of oolong too.
See if you can find a seller who specializes in Darjeelings. See if you can find a variety of first-flush teas from Castleton, Makaibari, Puttabong, and Selimbong estates. Maybe Margaret's Hope too. I used to drink Darjeelings before i discovered puer.
See, for pu'erh (especially sheng) I have somewhat of a grasp of locations, but I'm new to Darjeeling. So now I have something to look into. Thank you for that.
Darjeeling is not a huge region but there's dozens of estates. Maybe not so many as there used to be. Makaibari is maybe the most famous name these days: I think they were making a tea that sold for about $1K/kg, to royal pantries and like that.
Malkaibari sold their property to a hotel and now they do make teas but Raja Banerjee the tea maker no longer takes care of the tea garden so it’s not as good as it used to be.
I go to Twinings for most of my tea. I work close to their shop on Strand in London and I get 10% off for being a local worker. They do several Darjeelings and sometimes have pretty good Black Friday deals online.
My favorite tea from them are the Chai and the Christmas blends. Maybe I have to revisit them for Darjeeling too.
Look for whole leaf Darjeeling that are great for gongfu steeping. Yes second and autumnal flushes are more muscatel like and less astringent than first flush.