Zen Tea's Darjeeling Margaret's Hope Second Flush FTGFOP1 Organic

Yes, that is the full name and yes, it's a bit overwhelming but this is actually more of a personal project than just me writing whether I like a tea or not.  It starts with a question.  What is the difference between this tea and that tea, whether it just be a different type of tea like green versus oolong or a different region that the tea is grown, like Ceylon versus Darjeeling or maybe the difference between good quality tea and poor quality tea?  You can read how they taste on blogs (like mine) but it just isn't the same as actually tasting it.  It was a slippery slope to this, going from Big Lots tea bags to loose-leaf flavored teas to reading about these different origins and extremely detailed teas to finally just getting a bunch of samples and trying a bunch of high quality teas.  I picked Zen Tea for 2 reasons:  The teas I have tried from them have been of a pretty high quality in terms of ingredients and they were having a 50 percent off sale, so I got about 18 teas (some sample and some big sizes) for $35.  But ultimately, I want to know what a good quality Darjeeling, Keemun, Ceylon, etc. tastes like and that's what I'm doing now.

 

Outsides:   I know there's something you guys want to know and that's what FTGFOP1 means.  Well, here's an answer but the short version is high-quality, unbroken leaves.  Darjeeling is a mountain range in India where tea is grown and honestly, I have no idea of Margaret's hope means anything.  I brewed about a tespoon for three minutes in 8 oz of boiling water.  The color is the golden amber color while the smell is fruity with almost a hint of honey to it.

Insides:  The tea is extremely smooth with a medium body and very little astringency.  It's sweet, with a warm, nutty note to the flavor and a fruity aftertaste as well as a hint of floral.  So far, this is sweeter than the Assams and Ceylons I've tried, but closer to Ceylon in body but reminds me more of the Assam in flavor.  The flavor is bright and crisp and I'm sure you can drink this iced (it's definately mild enough to drink without sugar or milk).  Honestly, it's taking a bit of self-restraint not chugging the thing.

Overall:  For all of the high-quality teas, I'm going to say try because everyone should figure out what they like, but I really like this one

My Rating:  Buy it!  It's very good!

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea Retailer that specializes in mid to high quality teas.  The sample size was normally $2.20 but I got it half-off.  Also, apparently this wasn't the most expensive one, but it's still very good.

TasTEA Time! St. Dalfour Organic Pure Darjeeling Tea

What:  Darjeeling Tea

Where:  Darjeeling is an area in the Indian Himalayas, but this tea is a product of France

Why Should I Care:  Most of the teas I have on this blog are Ceylon or mixed, meanwhile there are several other regions that produce their own tea with its own distinctive taste.  What's more, this particular brand is organic meaning we are tasting the purest tea without any pesticides or chemicals.  It's also from France, which is a nice change from the usual countries of England, the US or random Asian countries depending on what kind of tea it is.

Packaging:  IFWS.  Another thing of note is that the bag don't use staples (they claim it changes the flavor of the tea).

Non-Taste Senses:  Slightly darker than Ceylon with a very strong "tea" aroma

Taste:  I have a confession to make.  I tried most of the tea before I review it.  Now, this isn't true in all the reviews but I'm still starting out and it's kinda hard finding tea I haven't tried.  The other reason I mentioned this is that the taste of the tea depends a lot on how you brew it and when you don't brew something right, it ends up being too bitter or doesn't have enough flavor (I judge this on the tea taste as opposed to the various flavorings).  The reason why I mentioned this is that I've tried brewing this a couple of times and it always ends up being insanely bitter.  I don't know if i'm soaking it for too long (I did it for about 3 minutes which is low for black tea) or I should rinse it longer, but it's probably twice as bitter as your normal black tea.  When you ignore the bitterness, the tea seems to be slightly sweeter than Ceylon while still retaining that same clarity but wow.  It actually was a bit cheaper than the other teas I got but now I see why.

Overall:  I'd really like to try another Darjeeling tea just to see if it's supposed to be this bitter but for now, I'm gonna tell you to pass, although I was about a half a step away from a Stay Away rating.  If you don't care about region, there are better black teas out there and if you do, I'm sure you can find something that doesn't make me want to drink something else.

My Rating:  Pass.  Well, the company seems to like making things other than tea.  Maybe that's why it isn't that good.