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Free Darjeeling Tea on our Darjeeling Tea page on Facebook

By admin on September 11, 2009 in Darjeeling Tea Offers, Darjeeling Tea Updates, Personal Ramblings, Second Flush

Just a short note in advance with some updates. If you aren’t aware then we have a Facebook page dedicated to Darjeeling Tea and of course talks about our company Thunderbolt Tea. People who are tea lovers can become a fan of this page where we give out USD 40 worth Darjeeling Tea every month to the winner for free. We choose it through a lucky draw from amongst the fans.

Once the draw is done, a lucky winner emerges and we make it point to contact them as soon as possible, so that we can announce it and send the gift. As far as I have experienced, it is hard to get in contact with the winners, we write to them and they don’t respond at all and we can’t wait for ever. This is exactly what has happened this recent draw. Anyways, to cut out the long wait and give others a equal chance to be the winner, once a draw is done, we will just wait for 48 hours for the response and if it crosses it, we do a re-do of the draw. If it proves to be the same ‘no-response’ issue, we will throw it out to all the fans.

This is how we will do it – if none of the winners respond, we will throw it open on our facebook page. We will do a status update on Facebook to which you just have to respond with a comment, maybe like this “I want to be the winner”. Kindly do one comment only. This way we will get comments from people who really want to taste our Darjeeling Teas and are serious tea lovers. We will give a time frame of about 48 hours. All comments done within 48 hours from the time of status update will be eligible – we will do a lucky draw amongst these comment makers. Hope this justifies all!!

Watch out for the status update soon!!

A NOTE ABOUT OUR DARJEELING TEA SHIPPING MODES
There were initially three methods of shipping we followed namely, the Airmail which my friend @TeaBoat calls it the ‘slow boat’, India Speed Post and Expedited Service, but the slow boat seems to be rowing real slow. India Speed Post and Expedited Service are no headaches, but the Airmail seems to take a lot of time getting delivered. Though none have been reported lost, we received some complaints about its late delivery – some are even taking 45 days.

We are getting rid of this mode of shipping ie. Airmail. We will only be using two modes of shipment from now on – 1) India Speed Post and 2) Expedited Service. India Speed Post hasn’t disappointed us and is reaching maximum within 20 days. Expedited Services such as Fedex, UPS etc. are great.

However for this to take affect, we have to do something about the minimum total order you can do to get eligible for free shipping. Initially, the minimum order value for free shipping was USD 49, now its USD 59. Hope you can understand. Both the shipping modes are expensive and we are trying our best to deliver it to you free of cost!

DARJEELING AUTUMN FLUSH 2009:
Yes, the new and the last season, the Autumn Flush is here. Will start buying after September end. I have never bought a lot of autumn Darjeeling Teas, but this year, I am planning to hunt it like I did it during the Second Flush. Lets see how it turns up and what teas I stumble upon.

Until then, keep sipping tea, its good for you!! I do it all the time!

Join our Darjeeling Tea Facebook Page and be eligible!

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Our Second Flush Darjeeling Tea 2009 selection

By admin on June 24, 2009 in darjeeling second flush, darjeeling second flush tea, New Tea Arrivals, Second Flush

Yes, new 2009 Second Flush tea procurement is almost over, a few samples are still popping and we will definitely taste it – if we like the quality we will buy, if not just discard it! Anyways, the fine selection of Second Flush Darjeeling Teas from 2009 has now been updated to our site and you can now purchase it online.

‘Patience a Virtue’ for Second Flush purchase this year
This year, the First Flush nearly got a barren look, but the weather supported at the right time. The tea leaves were on the verge of defoliation due to lack of rain. Everything was going on fine for new 2009 Second Flush and no delay was to occur, then the freaking “Aila” got bestowed, causing heavy rainfall in the Darjeeling hills which resulted in numerous landslides. Most of the tea gardens here in Darjeeling bear that landslide spot here and there, but thanks to the size of the tea gardens here in Darjeeling – it’s just not a small hill but numerous hills combined into one tea garden. Until first week of June, the teas we tasted were in between the two flushes and had a mix character possessing both First Flush and Second Flush character – thin liquor with no body, infused leaves still had that green effect and the taste still very astringent as first flush. However, when it comes to thin liquor, some second flush clonals do tend to be light, but the various other characteristics speak prominently of Second Flush. If you have hurried and purchased a Second Flush product processed earlier than first week of June then you are most probably drinking a mix characterized cup, tagged as Second flush.

The confusion and the final verdict
While buying the Second Flush, I had to do a lot of stern tastings this year. Some teas although good were exorbitantly high priced and I had to make a choice between a few. For example, I had to make a choice between the three samples I received, namely Puttabong Clonal Delight, Castleton Moonlight and Arya Ruby (Tippy) – All seem to be good teas, but Arya is Arya when it comes to competition – it was the forerunner. Castleton Moonlight and Arya Ruby got the same bid price, but quality wise, Arya Ruby won hands down, so Castleton Moonlight got chucked out. Now, came Puttabong Clonal Delight and Arya Ruby – Puttabong Clonal Delight seems to be nice and came near to the Ruby phenomena, but got chucked out due to its exorbitant price – Lesser than Ruby in quality, but higher than Ruby in price – Puttabong Clonal Delight got the kick out! Anyways, that’s the story of one of the choices I had to make while there are many!

Some still pending
I have been constantly contacting Castleton for Castleton Muscatel and had several chats with Mr. D.B. Gurung, the tea maker – they have a forward contract of 2500 kgs of Castleton Muscatel, but the sad thing is that the “Aila” got the production reduced. Castleton Muscatel is produced from special muscatel graded leaves and since the leaves couldn’t bloom to glory, the production got reduced. I really doubt whether the Castleton Muscatels meant for sale for other vendors including us will be of optimum quality or not. Still inquiring!!

Excellent Second Flush 2009 teas from some gardens
On the other hand, Arya, Goomtee, Risheehat and Sungma produced some excellent second flush teas worth mentioning. My fav is Arya, but Risheehat, Goomtee and Sungma won my heart this time. Sungma Clonal Wonder and Risheehat Flowery won hands down when compared to similar teas from other tea gardens. Goomtee (Muscatel Valley) is another awesome second flush tea which I couldn’t avoid buying. Arya Ruby is another tea which surprised me this time – excellent appearance, very aromatic dry leaves, full of two leaves and a bud – “tippy” is assigned this time and this highly speaks for itself. Due to abundance of tips, some amount of heavy wither and light roll, the cup is little bit lighter than the previous Rubys, giving the cup a mellow characteristics – a rare tea find with these unique Ruby characteristics.

Why we do not include Invoice nos. along with our teas?
This question has been asked by our clients and some interested tea lovers – We have our reasons for it. Yes, we do not mention any DJs, LCs or EX invoice nos. because we do some wholesaling as well and we don’t want the same DJ nos. distributed among others. Our wholesale customers complained about it. Yes, those who wholesale it and also mention their invoice nos., just google it and you will find multiple vendors with the same tea and same invoice no. – who is authentic? Our authenticity can be known by simply visiting our Facebook or twitter or twitpic page where we upload photos of various teas we receive – However, the invoice nos. are blurred out! Hope you understand it now! Maybe someday, we will exclusively have to buy a particular invoice for retail alone and that time we will definitely include the invoice nos.

What I feel about this years Second Flush Purchase:
Well, to admit frankly, though the scarcity, this is my finest line of Second Flush Darjeeling teas since the time I started my tea business and I a proud, I was lucky to get on to the right ones. I guarantee that anyone who purchases will fall in love with it – one advice though, if you love high quality, buy high quality and this is clearly marked by individual tea pricing. If you have noticed then there are really low priced teas as well on the line and this is keeping in mind for the budget conscious who simultaneously wants a good second flush Darjeeling tea. And I feel that the line of teas I have purchased this year is amongst the finest selection as far as I know. Show me a better collection if you have any. I will be surprised because being a local vendor, it was so hard to source the best so you can guess. Nowhere can you find this selection and the price we offer!

Anyways, I wrote this post on random, without any multiple reads and editing before publishing. Hope I am successful in conveying what I actually wanted to convey!

All teas are very limited, Hurry! Don’t ask when its already gone!

There will be no discount offers on 2nd flush 2009 teas for the next 4 months – simply for the reason: we just can’t afford to, coz the teas are freakin expensive and rare. Buy it fresh and fragrant.

Click here to go directly to Second Flush Page

And don’t forget that our recently purchased First Flush 2009 teas are on sale – Click here if you are interested!

Good Day and Happy Tea Sipping!

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Goomtee Tea Estate visit for Darjeeling Second Flush Tea 2009

By admin on June 16, 2009 in darjeeling second flush, darjeeling second flush tea, Personal Ramblings, Second Flush

Darjeeling Second Flush teas are a real scarcity at the moment and if you look around, u can hardly find any vendor selling it. Being here in Darjeeling is easy to procure, but doesn’t help this time because the teas are very limited in the tea estates itself.

I had tasted some excellent Goomtee tea samples and especially liked their teas from their organic section known as “Muscatel Valley”. Though the samples I received had already gone, I wanted to visit the garden to taste more if there were any similar teas left.

On 14th I took a ride till Mahanadi where Goomtee Tea Estate is located. Its on the way to Siliguri from Darjeeling while plying on the main road (there are shortcut routes to Siliguri, 75 km from Darjeeling). Siliguri is the first flat plain you will meet while heading down from the hills. Its like any other Indian city. Tindharia (DHR workshop) is very near to Goomtee.

Goomtee is located at a picturesque land where Jungpana falls in the vicinity and is visible from the estate. The history of Goomtee dates back to 1899 when a Briton, Mr. Henry Montgomery Lennox first planted the garden. The tea estate then passed on to several other hands like the Rana family of Nepal after World War II. Current management of Goomtee is run by “Goomtee Group of Tea Farms” with Mr. Ashok Kumar as the ‘Managing Partner’. Mr. Sagar Rawat is the manager and tea maker of Goomtee at present – an excellent tea maker who was previously with Margaret’s Hope Tea Garden. The tea estate avails tea lovers as well as fellow tourists to stay at Goomtee and witness various aspects of tea processing, indulge in the tea tasting, experience the colonial décor and above all feel the absolute link with nature far far away from the maddening crowd and the hustle and bustle of a crowded town or city. It’s a tremendous experience.

Well that was some Goomtee introduction. The reason I visited the garden was procurement of 2009 Second Flush Darjeeling teas. On arrival at Goomtee, I met Mr. Sagar Rawat, the manager who was kind enough to offer me a cup of tea and some cookies at his residential bungalow in the garden – after a long ride from Darjeeling, I needed to rest for a while, wipe my sweat out and of course a cup of fresh Darjeeling tea. After a little chat with his wife and kid, we headed to the factory to do the real thing – ‘tea tasting’. I had brought the sample along with me which I had liked.

Two tea garden assistants were called in to prepare the tea and seven cups were laid. Luckily the sample which I had liked was with them and this two was included in the tasting line – the sample I had brought didn’t have to come out from my bag. There were two light liquored teas, one white and one green, but my finding was to get a pure second flush character-oriented Darjeeling tea. The white and green teas were excellent, but the sample I had liked, prevailed superior. Its so hard to judge when similar grades and that too from the same garden are laid and you are tasting them one after another. But ultimately, the Muscatel Valley which I had liked prevailed in superiority.

While tasting the teas, Mr. Ashok Kumar, Managing Partner of Goomtee, came in and joined the tasting session. He is a very friendly person and loves tea like anything.

Ashok Kumar, Managing Partner, Goomtee Tea Estate

My liking was the tea which I had sampled earlier – I asked Mr. Rawat whether this tea could be got from the buyer who took it. The tea was taken by some tea company in Kolkata named as “Elite” and was shipped just a day ago from the tea garden after I reached. Mr. Rawat called up Kolkata in front of me and the deal was fixed. If I had visited a little earlier, this hassle wouldn’t have existed. Frankly, re-buying resulted in paying 5% commission to the company, but just could settle for a lesser grade. The shipped tea had just reached Siliguri and now is being shipped back to our premises – lucky me! Its entering tomorrow.

Now this tea I bought is called “Goomtee (Muscatel Valley) FTGFOP1”. Goomtee is a large tea estate and has got different sections mostly planted with China hybrid tea bushes. This tea is from their finest organic section called “Muscatel Valley” under their “Majhua Division” at an altitude over 4500 ft. The word ‘Majhua’ is nostalgic to me because my great great grandfathers were tea laborers in this tea estate. My father still has his ancestral home at Chimney, a few kms away from Majhua, and we visit the place once in a year during the festival season. My father was brought up there; interesting isn’t it? All raw organic tea leaves brought from this Muscatel Valley section are processed separately in the Goomtee tea factory following ISO 9001 and HACCP standards.

Goomtee is a Fairtrade tea garden where workers are given utmost care and concern. No child workers are employed and the existing workers receive good medical facilities, good remuneration, good food supply at subsidized rates, proper living standards, school facilities for children etc. The tea I bought is a Fairtrade Tea So buy it hehe!

Mr. Sagar Rawat generously invited me for another round of tea at his place. His daughter ‘Ananya’ is a cute little duckling. Mr. Rawat had surprised me before when he was with Margaret’s Hope with his creations like the Margaret’s Hope Pearls. Asked if he could make some Goomtee Pearls for me. Lets see! It’s a 80% ‘yes’. Good person and an experienced and remarkable tea maker. Without a proper tea maker, the best of raw tea leaves can result in the worst of ‘finished product’. Thanks Mr. Rawat, if you are reading this, for your hospitality, won’t forget!

Its not updated yet to our site. Please don’t hurry, I am bouncing from one garden to another to get the best and you will sip the best. Until then Happy Tea Sipping! Thanks for your patience!! Delay in procuring – its not us, blame the weather, blame Aila

Will comment on the tea characteristics later, on this blog.

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