hi samir, actually your query has already been answered when I replied to John placed above your comment. Anyways, to answer you specifically - no it is not mandatory to keep the tea leaves steeped for 5 minutes. You can try different timings (experiment it) with lower steeping times. This solely depends on your palate and liking. If you like it light, steep about 3 minutes. The full body and strong attribute also depends on what kind of tea you are brewing. First Flush will be lighter in appearance, but if you over steep it, it will tend to get very astringent (bitter). Second Flush will appear to have some body even at a 3 minute brew but will be smooth.

Hope this helps.

Hi Benoy, One question for you… Do we always have to strain Darjeeling tea leaves after 5 minutes? Sometimes I find the tea too strong after 5 minutes. Is there particular timings for particular types of tea? Or maybe its upto individual taste huh?
Sam

hi thanks john for the comment. well, the tea brewing actually depends on one’s own individual palate and according to what taste you like best, but we will tell you how we brew our Darjeeling teas for tasting. This is in plain simply English - we take about 2 - 2.5 grams (about 1 teaspoonful) of the dry tea leaves and drop it in the dry cup which hold roughly about 140 ml water. We boil the water once, just don’t over boil it or under boil it - Let it have a short boil. Pour the water onto the dry cup where you placed the dry tea leaves. Cover it for about 3-5 minutes (this depends on how strong or light you want, lesser steeping time for lighter liqor and vice versa). Leaving aside the white and green teas, Second Flush will have some body even at lower steeping times when compared to First Flush Darjeeling teas. China grades will have more body than the clonals. After the steeping is over, pour it onto your cup. Let it cool for a short while and then savor! China’s are best recommended for cups etc. It is also recommended that the cups are warm so that it doesn’t lose too much of heat.

Hope this helps.

Hello!
I bought some of the second flush Castleton from you and i am very satisfied.

However i was wondering how you recommend brewing it?
I am currently using water just below boiling, and steeping for 5 minutes, doing just one steep. It gives me good results but i would like to hear from a real expert

TIA
John

hey sam! nice to hear from you! hope your event management thing is going fine in dubai. by the way friends samir is a friend and a brother to me. we always stuck through thick and thin. keep rocking dude!

Hi Benoy,
So glad to see the new and UPDATED blog. Keep it going lad and tell us more about all the wonderful 2nd flush as well.
Cheers!
Samir

hi peter, sorry the late response. yes the teas have been updated to our main site at http://www.thunderbolttea.com . There are greater options for buying now and if you are our tea club member then you are at a win win situation.

when can we expect the update on thunderbolttea website?thanks

thank you jakub for the comment and of course for liking our teas, we are honored. Great to hear from you!

Thank you for this very interesting website.
You will certainly appreciate one of our documentaries: The Lord of Darjeeling.
The teaser:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wq1j_the-lord-of-darjeeling-teaser_travel

Avaibale here:
http://www.aloest.com/boutique/product.php?id_product=5