Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Lochan Tea’

The leaves of the Castleton Darjeeling are very green and twisted. When I first tried one of these 1st flush Darjeelings a few days ago, I was thrown off by how similar the 1st flushes are to green teas. I don’t have any prior experience with Darjeelings, but I really thought that they were black teas and perhaps the later flushes are. I don’t know.

What I do know is that this tea is much more like a green tea. If you go into it, like I initially did, expecting a robust black tea that would take milk and/or sugar you will probably be disappointed. However, I’m going into this tasting thinking that this is a green tea.

The dry leaf had a very green smell, but not vegetal; almost a bit musky, but not off-putting. This Castleton brews up a rich, golden hue similar to that of apple juice and has a medium floral aroma. The first sip begins slightly buttery, followed by a light floral taste. As the cup begins to cool slightly, the fruity scent begins to come into play. It is a bit hard to identify the fruity taste however that Darjeelings are famous for (well, from what I’ve read).

This tea is pretty good, but is best when drank before allowed to cool too much. A light, pleasant floral aftertaste lingers between each sip.

You can purchase the Castleton FTGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling directly from the Lochan Tea website.

I’ve never had a plain Assam before. The closest I’ve come is the Irish Breakfast by Twinings which is a blend of Ceylon and Assam. I’m always fascinated by the string of letters found in the names of many teas, but I really have no clue what they were supposed to mean for me. I did a bit of research and apparently STGFOP stands for “Special Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.” Since that still doesn’t tell you much, I continued to peruse the internet looking for more information and from what I have read the letters refer to the leaf size. With STGFOP being the second largest leaf behind the FTGFOP designation.

I expected the dry leaves to be plain black leaves, but there is a fair amount of golden hay colored leaves as well. The scent of the dry tea is earthy and malty. While steeping, the aroma takes on a heavier malty aspect which I love. The brewed tea is a medium-brown in color.

I tried the tea plain at first and was surprised to find a very robust cup with little astringency. The additions of milk and sugar were handled nicely and encouraged the malty aspect of the tea to shine. As the tea cools, a slightly sweet honey flavor creeps in for a pleasant surprise.

This is a great example of what a plain black tea should taste like. Smooth and bold with a bit of sweetness thrown in.

You can purchase the Rani STGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Assam directly from the Lochan Tea website.

The dry leaves of this tea are very thin, medium in length, and consist of both dark and golden hay colored leaves. The scent of the dry leaf is very earthy with only a slight hint of malt. When brewed, this tea is very red in color for a black tea and has an intensified earthy characteristic.

When taken plain, this tea is very astringent and a tad bitter. After adding milk and sugar, the bitterness is gone but the tea still has a bit of a sharp bite. This isn’t good or bad, but I can see how it may be too much for some people to stand. I was hoping the malty aspect would be more pronounced, but this tea is geared towards those that love the earthy flavors. As it cools, a slight sweetness begins to develop but the sharpness is still the most noticeable feature of this tea for me.

Overall, this is a good, strong black tea but I like for the malty flavors to be big and bold in my tea. The sharp bite of the tea is also preventing this from becoming my favorite Assam.

You can purchase the Mokalbari STGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Assam directly from the Lochan Tea website.

Due to user error, my first experimental pot of Lochan’s Harmutty Golden Paw was a declawed version of what a good Assam should be. At a scant teaspoon per cup and 3:45 brewing time (what I thought was a fair middle range), it was a beautiful amber in the cup, but I couldn’t coax much flavor out of it. It just tasted light and tea-ish.

When I got distracted—a routine occurrence on busy Saturdays—and left the rest of the pot for more than an hour, the color began to darken. Once that happened, some sweet, nutty notes began to emerge—prompting visions of and a craving for my Aunt Nancy’s legendary pecan pie. The full pot’s worth of leaves, double strength in a single cup, made a great glass of iced tea in the afternoon.

Evidently, this tea is not intended to be treated like a pampered pussycat. Even though the leaves are light and fluffy, they need strength (a heaping teaspoon per cup and then some) and time (minimum five minutes). When you give Harmutty Golden Paw a lion’s share of care and attention, you’ll get a smooth, light, slightly sweet, highly enjoyable tea.

I didn’t know what to expect from a 1st Flush Darjeeling, but I could have sworn it was a black tea. I did a bit of research and it turns out that the 1st flush is more like a green tea, so now that I knew a bit of what to expect I went ahead and brewed up some of this.

In the package, the aroma is very green but not vegetal. There is a bit of a fruity smell that is slightly hidden somewhere in there also. The leaves appear to be dark like you would expect from a black tea, but once they hit the water they turn a beautiful hunter green. As the tea steeps, the fruity aroma is intensified.

The Phuguri Darjeeling brews up to be a medium golden color similar to that of apple juice and still has that strongly fruity smell. The taste is similar to a green tea with a slight floral note that finishes with a grape-like sweetness. Even as this tea cools, the sweetness becomes stronger and the tea is perhaps even more pleasant.

This tea is a nice change of pace from what I usually drink and I’m looking forward to trying the other Darjeeling flushes in the future.

You can purchase the Phuguri SFTGFOP 1st Flush 2010 Darjeeling directly from the Lochan Tea website.