Up A Tree With Darjeeling

That's Vesuvius in the distance, dribbling a bit of smoke and haze.


We had our share of excitement this morning. A very nice beagle came visiting. Sadly, he thought our 2 youngest kitties were game and proceeded to tree them. As you can imagine, this was not appreciated by us and we chased him away. The kits didn't much like it either. However, they quickly came down and inside, please, please!

Yesterday I had a hard time picking an ice tea, but I read on another tea blog that Darjeeling is good iced. So I picked Arya Estate Second Flush Darjeeling from Thunderbolt, which I had purchased earlier this year. I reviewed this Mar. 28 and when I brewed it carefully, it was a delightful tea. I used about 9 teaspoons in about 1 1/2 quarts of water. I was going to brew it for about 5 hours, but it stretched into 7.

When I filtered out the leaves and tried it, I was quite pleased. It was a touch floral, with some astringency, and I could swear there was a tiny bit of smokiness, with some citrus notes. There was no bitterness nor too much tannin, just an all around good tea. My husband would consider it weak, but I, who like my tea strong, did not find that to be true.

I tried it with a bit of lemon juice and later, with a bit of orange and I must say, it was very tasty all three ways. You're on your own with sugar, I just can't stand sugar in my tea.

We are all waiting on tippy-toes for rain. The weatherman keeps promising, but there hasn't been more than a little action. I am hoping we'll get one of those really active thundershowers. I love to watch the lightening.

Thunderbolt Reprise

Oh, to be in the sun, under a tall palm tree! It is cold and miserable
here, perfect weather for staying inside with tea.


Today I am trying Thunderbolt Tea's 2nd Flush Arya Estate SFTGFOP1 for the second time. The last time, the beginning of February, I think I over brewed it and it tasted mostly like tomato soup. This time I was very careful to reduce the water temperature to 200 degrees and the brewing time to 2.5 minutes. I was rewarded with a lovely cup of tea that was slightly woodsy but somewhat floral as well and altogether a very nice cup of tea.


While I was about it, I thought I might as well try another of the teas I purchased from Thunderbolt, another 2nd flush but from the Goomtee Estate in the Muscatel Valley. This is another pretty tea, with many shades of brown and some ivory buds in it. The dry tea smells of fresh corn and also a woodsy and nutty aroma mixed in. I brewed it the same as the Arya Estate and was again rewarded with a wonderful cup of tea. It was a very dark amber with a primarily that same woods and nuts as a base flavor, but a great grapiness in the back of my mouth. I love how good teas have so many scents and tastes. It really is fascinating to me how in one cup there are so many sensations.

Tomato Soup for Tea?

A beautifully worked gold covered prayer book from the Palace museum in Vienna.


What a great day – so far it has been all sunshine! And we had some super news! We've been accepted into a program for retired Presbyterian pastors to receive free housing until we die or can no longer live independently! We are so excited we hardly know what to do with ourselves, at least in part because we surely don't want to think about all the work involved in moving yet again. The house will be a new 2 bedroom, 2 bath home and we've seen some of the others that were recently built and they are very nice indeed.


Well that certainly needs a super cup of tea to celebrate, doesn't it? I decided to break into my stash of Thunderbolt Darjeelings I recently purchased and have some Arya Estate second flush SFTGFOP1. The tea is quite pretty, a mix of black brown and gold. It smells of really good tomato soup, with a hint of tobacco and wood shavings. As it is brewing I caught a strong whiff of old-fashioned molasses cookies. Can't wait for the taste with all this going on. Sadly, this is where it all came to a crashing halt. It tastes like tomato soup! Two whole cups of tomato soup! Well, phooey, I had really been looking forward to this as generally, Arya Estate has good to excellent tea. My husband said it tasted like I brewed it too long. I thought maybe my taste buds are off due to all the meds poured into me lately. So I will leave it for now with a big question mark and come back to it later.

Snow in Darjeeling?

I have to say, if you get bored in a Gothic church in Vienna, you really have to work at it, there is so much to see.

It is very cold in Darjeeling, so cold that Benoy Thapa, the owner of Thunderbolt Tea, thinks it may snow! However, it is not snowing here and the sun is out, and I am going to have a cup of Thunderbolt's Arya Estate Emerald, a second flush green tea. A lot of Darjeeling estates are getting into green teas and this is one. The dry tea is so pretty – huge long wiry green, white and tan leaves and buds, smelling of a meadow. I brewed it at about 180 degrees with about 2 teaspoons of tea because the leaves were so large. I also brewed it for about 4 minutes, because every time I tasted it before then it didn't taste “done”. As it brewed there was a lovely delicate floral scent given off, but it was not particularly sweet. There was also some dried herb mixed in the full scent package. The liquor was a really pretty yellow, with a faint tinge of brown.

This is definitely not a Chinese or Japanese green tea, so do not expect anything like them. This must be judged on its own merits. The brewed tea is very delicate and at first it seems as though you are drinking hot water. However, as it cools to the warm side of hot, the flavors begin to come out, somewhat floral, a hint of almond, a hint of sweet. I think you could easily do multiple short infusions of this tea, with water about 160 degrees and be quite happy. I will try that another day. I also think just a tiny bit of lemon would add to it. This is a very nice, very special tea. For someone wanting to try green teas, this would be a good one.

In this month's issue of Tea Time Magazine there are some really cute pewter teabag holders, made by Tin Woodsman Pewter. They are available on http://www.amazon.com/ and would certainly make neat Valentine's Day gifts.