Darjeeling Second Flush
· Darjeeling
Black
This tea is bitten before it is picked. In the June heat a small insect called a leafhopper feeds on the Darjeeling bushes, and the damaged leaf answers by making the compounds that become muscatel, a musky note like grapes that almost no other tea has.
The word was first used at Castleton estate, where a tea maker found one batch had turned strangely like wine.
The bushes are China stock, carried up into the Himalaya where the cold keeps them small. Growers here welcome an insect they would kill anywhere else. Brisk and bright in the cup, grape sitting over a spine of tannin.
- muscatel
- grape
- brisk
- Origin
- Darjeeling, West Bengal
- Water
- 95°C / 203°F
- Ratio
- 4 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Medium
- Rinse
- Not needed
One of the world's great black teas; India GI
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~4.0g of tea
The session
5 infusions, about 4m 20s of total contact time.
- Steep 130sA muscat hint, not yet fruit.
- Steep 235sGrape sweetness swells, musky and warm.
- Steep 345sBrisk tannin sharpens the middle.
- Steep 41mThe fruit softens toward honey.
- Steep 51m 30sA dry, bright finish, clean.
Also sold as
Muscatel, Champagne of Teas, Second Flush Darjeeling
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.