Hi,
I finally found some time to copy a few lines from my sampling notebook
on some of the more exciting Darjeelings I had the pleasure to sample
during the last couple weeks. All together I sampled more than 60
different Darjeelings, mostly 2nds and Autumnals as well as a few
Oolongs, and other more exotic offerings.
Most of the better teas I got from some folks in the beezness, from
their private stashes, not commercially available unless you happen to
live here or in Japan.
One thing I never experienced to such an extent before were the
differences among the invoices in 2005. This time around I was able to
get my hands on up to 5 different invoices of the same single estate
harvest (Marg. Hope FTGFOP and Avongrove FTGFOP Autumnals) and some
were as different as day and night, the Marg. Hope ranging from very
expressive, with a beautiful flowery aroma to not so memorable, almost
flat while not one sample of this years Av.groves Autumns managed to
entirely catch my interest. YMMV.

Let me start with a little review on a tea that almost knocked me out
of my shoes some days ago.
(please refer to a previous post "Sampling those finicky Darjeelings"
for some notes on my sampling method, so I don´t need to bore you with
the details here)


Sample: Makaibari SFTGFOP-1 Vintage Autumn [Organic]

Source: a friends private stash

Just back from shopping with a little time on my hands I decided it was
time to finally give this sample a go, and what a wonderful experience
this has been. I have a small tasting table in my room, with all that
gear ready to go whenever I and my allergy plagued nose feel ready to
sample some nice leaves.

The appearance is pretty dark, lots of long twisted leaves, some mocha
colored strands, white tips, almost nothing broken here.

Starting as usual with sniffing some dry leaves, at first I couldn´t
detect anything particular, delicate deep and "warm" notes of exotic
wood with a wee bit of dried fruit, hmm, a pretty average delicate
profile for an autumnal tea. A second sniff revealed more of the
background, a picture of a forest came to my mind but I couldn´t
identify any of the spicy details, the closest idea was that of a
Kashmiri kofta masala, still too far off though.

I decided to begin with 2.3g of leaves, prewarmed a 4 oz gaiwan,
brought the water to almost a rolling boil (96°C) and will not forget
to soon what happened in the following minutes/hours.
The first sniff of the steeping leaves didn´t bring just notes or
hints of a chocolate-vanilla creme custard, it was almost like placing
my nose over a bowl of the real thing. Every sniff brought up a
distinctively different sweet creamy layer. I had to remind myself to
place the lid back on the small gaiwan as not to sacrifice too much
temperature.

First sample - 3 minutes - my usual starting point for Autumnals
A sweet, mellow cup with delicate, deep notes of vanilla, emerging from
a soft bed of delicate spices, mirrored in the cups aroma. Is this a
Darjeeling or some flavored blend ? What may come next ?

2nd sample - 3´30''
Almost nothing reminding of vanilla anymore, now it was all delicate
flowers, beautifully arranged with the first noteworthy touch of
Muscatel <aha> and the first touch of briskness.

3d sample - 4'00''
Now the flowery notes were gone, and those distinctive warm notes of
vanilla were back. A mellow, sweet cup, artfully framed with
adstringency that together with the now very present Muscatel reminded
me that I was actually drinking a Darjeeling.

4th sample - 4'30''
Besides the now dominating but agile adstringency, temporarily
concealing the Muscatel like a matrix of hovering pinholes this was a
most remarkable cup. I could almost physically feel the living
multidimensional, velvet covered prickling structure of that intense
flavour. One after another peak emerged through the delicious
adstringent weave. None of Makaibaris sometimes toasty notes, but
caprioles of muscatel, fruits (peach, mango), orchids, like this tea
was trying to tell me something, urging me to fully concentrate on
it´s presence. A truly synergistic, as not to say trippy experience
and I didn´t even mention the wonderful aroma of those 4 cups,
harmonically in balance with the flavour.

All over ? No way. The flavours of the last cup lingered on the palate
for some minutes!, still a complex sensory experience.
At this point the wet leaves in the gaiwan smelled just wonderful, all
those aromas of the last minutes asked for my undivided attention but I
was a bit overwhelmed by the complexity. So I grabbed my notebook and
wrote down some more lines. 5 minutes later I again sniffed the now
cold leaves (it was about 5 deg C. in my unheated hotelroom, nothing
stays warm for too long here). Now the leaves distinctively smelled of
peaches. I left the room for 5 minutes, came back and took another
whiff of the leaves. I honestly thought this can´t be, now the leaves
STRONGLY and unmistakenly smelled of a flowery perfume. I decided to
give them a second dive and boiled up some water.

Second steeping - 80ml - 5 minutes
Anything else to say, leaves ? Yes, they had.
The second st. resulted in a sweet flowery only slightly adstringent
cup, that was still more interesting than 2/3ds of the teas I sampled
in the last weeks. The sweet flowery aroma was of course weaker now but
still complex enough to keep me interested for some time.
All over now ? No. I went downstairs for some Nepali dinner, and when I
came back 2 hours later the leaves in the Gaiwan smelled of a fruit
salad, peaches, mangos, pears, ...

.... sorry for the lame expression but "what a tea" !

Bottom line: 90 out of 100 points for that lonely sample, certainly one
of the most entertaining Darjeeling adventures I enjoyed so far,
complexitywise up on par with any Oolong I care to remember, just a tad
too autumnal (read:delicate) in the cup for my tastes but my schnotz
had a great time.

PS: Anything else to ramble about ? This tea just cries to be gong-fued
but I only have some 2 grams left. Time to think about an appropriate
baksheesh for that friend to get some more. Some days ago though after
a another truly memorable sampling session I managed to snatch a
healthy stash of "Castleton SFTGFOP 1 Musc (Cl) 2nd flush [DJ-165]". A
cloudy mountain of a 2nd flush, Muscatel on MSG. Certainly worth of
some more lines ... and lots more cups.


Right below my open window my neighbours dog just started his nightly
soprano solo, the pack from Laden La road happily tuning in. It must be
11 pm, time to grab those earplugs and call it a night.

Karsten / Darjeeling