Giddapahar Exotic Darjeeling Black Tea First Flush 2020 from vahdam

The dry leaf has very flowery aromas. As expected of a first flush Darjeeling, the leaves display heterogeneous oxidation in terms of color and also picking / rolling quality in terms of size and shape. Many leaves look green, some white and some brown. They appear to be mostly very tender buds with some stems. The leaves appear a bit fragmented at parts.

I brewed this both gongfu method and western method.

Gongfu method:

5 grams in 125 mL pot with 90-95C water

20 sec / 30 sec/ / 40 sec / 1 min / 2 min / 4 min

Color of brew was consistently pale to dark gold

Aromas remained very flowery, with lots of rose.

First steep was light with fresh corn sweetness reminiscent of a white tea.

Second steep was more robust. There is some green tea grassiness, black tea fruitiness and continuation of white tea sweetness. Astringency arrives in the back of the throat.

Third steep is similar to second steep but slightly gentler. Some muscatel notes arrive.

Fourth and fifth steeps are milder versions of third steep with some additional astringency.

Western brew:

4 grams

400 mL
90-95C
Steep 1: 3-4 min
Steep 2: 7- 10min

Muscatel scent and taste
Rose and other oily flower aromas
Overall very mellow
Light vegetal character
Some astringency
Long after taste of flowery and muscatel notes

In general, western brewing is more satisfying, as all the characteristics from different cups of gongfu are present in a very balanced way.

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