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Tasting note
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Reviews
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Quality
Darjeeling Orange Valley DJ 105 “MUSCATEL” S.F.T.G.F.O.P.1
Origin: India, Darjeeling
Tea Estate: Orange Valley
Dry leaves:
Aspect: small, perfectly rolled leaves.
Colour: dark brown with a touch of red.
Scents: a pronounced woody note, with cooked fruit, liquorice, vanilla and cocoa.
Brewed leaves:
Scents: woody, waxy, honey, cooked fruit, dried fruit and accents of camphor.
Liquor:
Colour: a clear, gleaming liquor with a coppery red colour.
Texture: supple to start, then quickly acquiring an astringency that lingers, giving the tea a good structure.
Flavour: a touch of bitterness.
Aromas: very woody to start, with tobacco, dried fruit, stewed fruit, spices, camphor and a hint of vanilla and cocoa.
Aromatic profile and length in the mouth: the length is enhanced by the more astringent texture at the finish and the bitterness, leaving impressions of wood, spices, liquorice and dried fruit.
Our verdict:
ln Darjeeling, “Muscatel” is applied to a tea with an aromatic bouquet that evokes the fruity sweetness of the muscat grape. The characteristics of this very rare bouquet are due to an insect - the jassid. As with the paoli that attacks the leaves that produce the Bai Hao Wu Long tea of Taiwan, this green fly from the cicadellides family attacks the plantations in summer and causes serious damage to both young and old trees. When it bites into the tender leaves the jassid causes similar changes in the leaf to the paoli. Unlike the Taiwanese species, however, it is not regarded as having a beneficial effect on the tea and many Darjeeling planters prefer to protect their trees against its attack rather than sacrifice a part of their harvest. Only some of the very best plantations, which have mastered the process for capturing the special bouquet the jassid produces and which are consequently sure of being able to sell their teas at the best price, are prepared to take the risk of letting the insect do its work. A really lovely plucking with woody, spicy and fruity (dried fruit, stewed fruit) aromas, sustained by a well structured liquor that is long in the mouth.
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