first flush darjeeling tea 2009

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Some Darjeeling Tea tasting – First Flush 2009

By admin on May 7, 2009 in darjeeling tea tasting, First Flush, New Tea Arrivals

Did a regular round of tea tasting of available Darjeeling Teas First Flush 2009. If I haven’t mentioned then new 2009 Darjeeling First Flush are in stock apart from the teas which are laid on our site on the 2009 first flush page.

Took out four teas for this tea tasting session namely Arya FTGFOP1 Clonal, Puttabong Clonal Classic, Singell Tippy Green and Giddapahar “China wiry tippy” (thats the name given).

All seem to have ‘light and bright’ cup except for Arya FTGFOP1 Clonal which resembles the characteristics of Ruby, slightly darker cup. The fruity and flowery characteristics seem dominant in all with some amount of astringency (steep less if you don’t like this) – lesser in clonals. Puttabong has an excellent sweet aftertaste that keeps lingering. Arya Clonal has an excellent malty and fruity flavor.

The Singell Tippy Green is one that is totally different from the rest. It is grassy and the dry leaves are green with shiny hairs – 99% buds. Seems as if its unprocessed n the leaves are at its natural state – God knows:) Frankly if you don’t like the grassy taste, avoid this, but its state boasts of abundance of antioxidants!

All teas are different with different characteristics which is unmatched when compared to each other. To conclude and hail one as superior to the other is difficult because of its own unique individual characteristics which is not found in the other – complexity rules and you are stuck in that endless time calculating and contrasting characteristics. But if you want my taste buds to create a difference, then my olfactory speaks for Arya FTGFOP1 Clonal and Puttabong. Please remember, the conclusion given here is according to my liking, which can have a difference of opinion when others taste it.

Its your palate, you decide!

Oh, our tea company is about to give an unbelievable offer on the new First Flush Darjeeling Teas 2009, hang on and we will update. Signing up for our mailing list can make us inform you of the update through mail, otherwise you have to keep track of this blog

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Darjeeling First Flush Tea 2009 – updated

By admin on April 9, 2009 in First Flush, New Tea Arrivals

Hello friends – finally our webmaster took a spin over his existing project that is Thunderbolt Tea’s site. The new arrivals had to be updated and since the site seems to be done in the old fashion way with manual html pages, it took quite sometime for him to give it a final note. He’s done a good job, nice graphics on front page (by the way the tea tea garden pic is taken by me:)), but somehow he made it look quite different with the additional addons destined to layout as a Spring theme.

Yes, the recent First Flush Darjeeling Teas (2009) have all been updated and some more First flushes are on their way, but will take sometime to arrive – though already tasted the samples and blocked it!

The hyper note of “severe drought conditions” could be seen everywhere specially highlighting the case of ‘First Flush Darjeeling Teas’, but the rains came just about the right time and we got our teas and is now for you to savor it! If the rains did delay then it would be defoliation rather than the new tender First Flush shoots and mass production would be at its minimum. Still, production was low and as a result there will be no ‘easy abundance’ of First Flush Darjeelings in the market. Quality is good as a true first flush should be and I am happy to have acquired the teas for our clients.

I have already tasted and it is ethereal – now its your turn. I won’t comment on any of the teas coz time is a constraint here, but one thing I can assure you is, taste anyone and you won’t regret. However, I would like to stress the fact that the best tea can taste the worst and this is because of your palate’s likes and dislikes. An astringent character is common in all which is the mark of a Darjeeling first flush tea, but this can be lowered by decreasing the steeping time. Steeping for 3 minutes gives you an ideal cup, but as said earlier, its your palate and you are the judge. Some like this pungency and others don’t. All are common with pleasant fruity and flowery notes and this is layered in a complex manner and sometimes difficult to associate the hidden characteristics and describe it in a layman’s words. Don’t take your tea “hot”, let it simmer for some secs and sip it to its glory. I personally feel that some cooling tones up the cup. However, if you like the aroma, its quite instant as soon as you are pouring the tea.

A NOTE ON THE TEA SHIPPING POLICY (updated)
If you had been buying teas from us then you must have noticed that we offered free shipping irrespective of the quantity you buy – Though we tried to maintain the preceding statement, good things don’t seem to last – the Postal Department raised the shipping cost by almost double and in fact some shippings destined to be delivered to our clients dug out the grave from our pockets. However, it was not our clients mistake, it was just the sudden change in the heightened charges levied by the Post Office.

A change was needed keeping the comforts of our clients and us too – after all I can’t do business at a loss – got a family to look after; staff, their families, their woes etc To chalk out this problem, we cracked our brains and devised a solution – The FREE SHIPPING is still on, its just that you have to do a minimum purchase of USD 49 or above. If your order totals up to the required amount you are eligible for free shipping anywhere – you just need to enter the COUPON code on checkout.

Coupon Code: FREESHP9FFTAF

You can be eligible for 3 shipping options

a) A total purchase of USD 49-84: Will be sent by Airmail (15-30 days)
b) A total purchase of USD 85-149: Will be sent by Speed Post (around 14-20 days)
c) A total purchase of USD 150 and above: Will be sent by Expediated Service (one week)

How to order the teas and avail the above free shipping options

1) Choose your teas and add to cart one by one
2) Once finished adding your teas to the cart enter the coupon code for free shipping ie FREESHP9FFTAF
3) While checking out you will be asked to opt for the shipping method if your order is USD 49 or above as required for free shipping – Choose any of the available shipping modes (doesn’t matter which one you choose, the coupon code works out), your shipping charge will automatically be substracted from the total and will be free.
4) You pay!

Now that I have updated you with the necessary details and hope that you won’t be confused, go get your share now! Teas are limited and don’t ask when its gone!

Click here to order Darjeeling First Flush 2009 teas!

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First Flush Darjeeling Tea 2009 – the incoming!!

By admin on April 4, 2009 in First Flush, New Tea Arrivals, Personal Ramblings

Pertaining to the so called lack of timely rain, a “ho-halla” (‘commotion’ in Nepali) spread the tea world and especially got whispered into the ears of chronic Darjeeling Tea Lovers. “Will we be able to procure our share of First Flush Darjeeling Tea from 2009?” Anyways, the buzz has thinned down and settled to the bottom and yes, 2009 First Flush Darjeeling Teas will be available but will be available in less quantity – the production is low. Some teas have already entered our premises like Arya SFTGFOP1, Arya SFTGFOP1 China, Puttabong SFTGFOP1, some whites etc. However these teas haven’t been updated to our site yet, just for info sake.

At Arya Tea Estate – me getting the feel of the tender shoots – if you have noticed – the tea bush I am extending to is covered with the tender first flush shoots and surrounding is bare, meaning the rains did affect the tea growth but it did grow – just that it will be less in production sufficing with the amount of tea leaves got during the production time

I had heard from several tea experts that the quality may have a drift, but after tasting and acquiring these teas, I give them a “no,no nod” to their forethoughts. Teas are excellent and no sign of loss characteristics can be seen when talking about Darjeeling First Flush.

OUR THUNDERBOLT TEA INSIDERS

“Kalyan” one among others – he is our expert tea packer and trains other recruits – the packing and handling cost we charge you goes to these people:)

Apart from our bulk tea storage, this is a glimpse of our ever confusing “packed teas” retail room – only the guys responsible know where the exact teas are kept. Without them, I am lost in the ocean of black and white strands we call tea.

“Dips” as we call her – she is the one who processes all orders and knows what came in and what to send out asap. She comes tidied up, goes torn-up. Without her, its just chaos.

Some Pics of Arya Teas which came in