Tindharia Estate FTGFOP Second Flush Blend

Can I say, "Yummy, yummy, yummy"?

Now this tea I just bought last week and to tell you the truth, wow! Tindharia Estate FTGFOP Second Flush Blend really is a good tea for the cost that I paid for this. I'm not much on "blended" teas because I prefer single estate teas, but this is well "thought out" in it's blending to create a taste that has the Darjeeling characteristic that I love so well.

From the Upton Tea web site the comment for this tea is as follows:

Description:
We are pleased to offer this value blend from one of our preferred gardens. The well-made leaves produce a smooth and flavorful cup. The aroma has sweet, fruity hints which complement silky smooth liquor.

Yes, I agree with this comment, and would like to add the clean finish and the brightness of the liquid that is produced.

Just say NO!

Lipton Tea is better than this junk!

Season's Pick Dharamshala Estate TGFOP1

Here is my review for Season's Pick Dharamshala Estate TGFOP1, from Upton Tea.

Upton Tea's web site gave this description for the tea:

Description:
Produced in Kangra Valley (Valley of the Gods), this well-made tea has uniform, dark green needle-like leaves. The cup has medium body with a pleasing, vegetal aroma and fine floral notes. The finish is robust, and the character is much like that of a Darjeeling.

This tea happen to be a great buy for me. This buy happened to be in the Upton's Tea "Season's Pick" line which offers to the public teas that are normally reserved for their wholesale customers and the Food Service industry.

I bought a 250 gram package of this tea for $6.80, and because of the price and the bulk amount I got it for everyday drinking. I was really surprised on how good the quality of this tea was.

The description above is very accurate and I can not add to the description but to say that I'm going to check out the other teas in the "Season's Pick" line at Upton Tea's web site.

Golden Nepal (Kanyam Estate)

Golden Nepal (Kanyam Estate) is my next review.

Upton Tea's web site gave this description for the tea:

From the high Himalayan mountains, this tea is somewhat reminiscent of a Darjeeling. Bright amber liquor.

I find this description very modest for this tea. Even thought I agree this tea is somewhat reminiscent of a Darjeeling Tea, I would also say it has a more traditional taste that most people are familiar with in tea. The quality is excellent, the leaf is very pleasing to look at, both before and after steeping and the taste is moderate to bold with a clean and almost nutty finish.

The label that describes the tea states that this tea is a second flush (second picking of the season), which I did not find in the description of the tea on Upton Tea's web site. Most teas are a second flush tea that is sold in the United States (from what I have been told), and I have a few first flush teas in my stash, but this second flush tea here almost reminds me of a first flush quality and should not be overlooked when choosing a tea to buy.

Season's Pick Risheehat Estate

Season's Pick Risheehat Estate is the first pot I steeped out of my new order listed below.

Upton Tea's web site gave this description for the tea:

This tea has a pronounced floral aroma, a well-balanced nutty flavor, and a warm, sweet-floral finish. An outstanding value for premium Darjeeling Tea.

My favorite teas are grown mostly in the Darjeeling region of India, and as you can tell from my order in the blog post just below this one that the teas I ordered have been grown in the Darjeeling region or close to the region (all grown at a high altitudes) for the similar characteristics that I enjoy.

The description that Upton Tea gave about this tea is very accurate except for the sweet-floral part. I am missing the muscatel notes that I really enjoy from Darjeeling Teas.

The main reason I ordered this particular tea was due to the lower cost of this tea and that I could order it in bulk (I drink more tea in any given day than water alone) to keep my supply here at my home up for a while. Tuesday night I almost had a fit when I realized that I had only three kinds of Black Tea left in my stash (the tins were hidden in between all of my White Teas and Green Teas), so I went to my computer and ordered six Black Teas real quick.

I'm glad I ordered this tea, although it will not be a favorite, but it will give me some more variety in my Black Teas to choose from everyday.

A New Order

I place an order from Upton Tea Imports on Tuesday night and I received the order today. Not bad! Upton Tea Imports received my order Tuesday night, then on Wednesday they processed my order and shipped it via USPS the same day and it arrived today (Friday). Now I wished more companies that you order products from online would process and ship/deliver in that kind of timely manner.

Well anyway, I ordered six teas:

• Season's Pick Dharamshala Estate TGFOP1
• Season's Pick Risheehat Estate
• Himalayan TGFOP1
• Golden Nepal (Kanyam Estate)
• Darjeeling FTGFOP Special Blend Organic
• Dunsandale Organic TGFOP EX/SPL

Season's Pick Dharamshala Estate TGFOP1
Description from Upton's web site:
Produced in Kangra Valley (Valley of the Gods), this well-made tea has uniform, dark green needle-like leaves. The cup has medium body with a pleasing, vegetal aroma and fine floral notes. The finish is robust, and the character is much like that of a Darjeeling.

Season's Pick Risheehat Estate
Description from Upton's web site:
This tea has a pronounced floral aroma, a well-balanced nutty flavor, and a warm, sweet-floral finish. An outstanding value for premium Darjeeling tea.

Himalayan TGFOP1
Description from Upton's web site:
Deep Darjeeling-like flavor notes reminiscent of the style of Sikkim teas. A 3 minute infusion produces an aromatic tea with golden liquor. Highly recommended.

Golden Nepal (Kanyam Estate)
Description from Upton's web site:
From the high Himalayan mountains, this tea is somewhat reminiscent of a Darjeeling. Bright amber liquor.

Darjeeling FTGFOP Special Blend Organic
Description from Upton's web site:
A blend of select lots of organic Darjeeling teas. The golden liquor has a delicate floral aroma and a mildly fruity flavor. The cup is smooth, and the finish is pleasingly pungent. We have a limited supply of this tea and offer it at a special price.

Dunsandale Organic TGFOP EX/SPL
Description from Upton's web site:
This full-bodied, fragrant tea produces a fruity cup with nuances of walnuts. The character is eminently fresh, with Darjeeling-like notes and a lingering aftertaste. A good selection for those who like a high-altitude Himalayan tea.

I just steeped my first pot from the order from above, next I'll give my review.

PDA Test

This is a test post from my PDA

Tea Plantation Laborers Find Life

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Tea Plantation Laborers Find Life

Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release

These tea garden laborers harvest a plantation owner’s crop.

WEST BENGAL, INDIA (ANS) -- A whole village of Dalit (“Untouchable”) laborers was impacted when students from a Gospel for Asia Bible college in West Bengal, India, started visiting them on weekends. This Dalit village is in an area with many tea plantations.

A river flowing from the Himalayas wraps itself around the Toorsa tea plantation, known for its beauty. But the people working in the plantation see a different picture.

Low-caste tribals and Nepalese immigrants make up a task force of low-paid plantation laborers. The desperate circumstances have driven many to alcoholism and drugs. Most of the laborers are illiterate and unable to hold anything but manual labor jobs—if they have a job at all.

But the people working in the plantation see a different picture. The desperate circumstances have driven many to alcoholism and drugs.

In January, GFA Bible college staff and students heard that no one in the village knew Christ, so they started conducting weekend outreaches. Through open-air meetings and door-to-door evangelism, five families received salvation, and now 25 people regularly come to worship services. Many more are also showing interest in the Gospel.

The students ask that you please pray for them and that many more people in this Dalit community would receive Jesus. Also pray that as more lives are transformed by the Gospel, the Lord will deliver the villagers from their addictions and provide for their futures.

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Learn more about West Bengal

Learn more about Bible colleges

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Gospel for Asia is a mission organization involved in evangelism and church planting in Asia's unreached regions. Currently Gospel for Asia supports more than 16,000 church planters in 10 countries.

Harney & Sons: Hot Cinnamon Spice Black Tea

I received this little beauty for a birthday gift just awhile back.

As I have stated before, I'm not much of one for flavored teas, there are only two or three that I can think of that I do like. This tea adds to my disliking of flavored teas. I do like a tea that has a cinnamon flavor to it sometimes. Sometimes I just add one stick of cinnamon to a cup of hot tea while it steeps for a bit. But sad to say in this tea I can not taste any tea at all! All I can taste is the cinnamon oil added to this tea plus with all of the broken cinnamon stick pieces added to the tea (maybe for looks).

Looking at the side of the tin there is a "PRODUCTION:" label (ingredients) that says that there is in the blended black tea three kinds of cinnamon (maybe the broken pieces of cinnamon stick and two kinds of cinnamon oils), orange peel and sweet cloves.

Now having taste buds of a master chef, I can honestly say that I don't taste any orange peel or sweet clove (both of which I use in making my holiday hams). And also sad to say that the after taste of this tea lasts for hours and is to overpowering for other things you may eat or drink in those hours later.

If you use any kind of YiXing teapot, DO NOT USE THIS TEA! You will ruin the pot forever!

But I must say a nice word or two about Harney & Sons' Teas, their selection of Black Teas are among some of the best you can buy, so I would not write off these people for good quality tea, but I have not tried their Green or White Teas as of yet.

More reviews coming soon.

Sorry for the absence.

Darjeeling #1 from Adagio Teas

Here is a little beauty I ordered from Adagio Teas recently. It's called Darjeeling #1 and it's one of the strongest Darjeeling Teas I've ever enjoyed.

It's surprising how strong this tea is with it's muscatel flavor after steeping the tea and seeing how light in color it is in the cup, and it's highly aromatic and pleasing to the taste with a light after taste.

This black tea is a first-flush offering from the Risheehat estate in the Darjeeling District of India. I will be ordering more when I run out of this shipment of Darjeeling #1 from Adagio Teas.

I've been sick for about a week now

I've been sick with a bad cough and a high temperature. My best saving grace has been using Pu Erh Teas with honey in the cuppa for a kick.

I know about the Medicinal value of Pu Erh Teas, so I take advantage of the tea often.

I am most certain this is nothing new under the sun...

Just for a different taste when I get low on any tea I have I toss the almost empty tea into a tea tin marked "Mixed Tea". I do this with my black, green and white teas, and each tin marked "Black Mixed Tea", "Green Mixed Tea" and "White Mixed Tea" appropriately.

I love my black teas, and I'm drinking more and more white teas all of the time. So just now I made two pots of tea, one from the "Black Mixed Tea" and the other from the "White Mixed Tea", then I combined the two finished teas into one pot to make a mixture of black and white tea. What a new taste experience! I'm enjoying the combination of the well know taste of black tea with the settle and almost nutty taste of the white tea in one cup!

Makaibari Estate Organic FTGFOP1S Autumnal

This tea I bought from Upton Teas back in June of 2006 called Makaibari Estate Organic FTGFOP1S Autumnal (FTGFOP1 = Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, grade 1) is what I am enjoying right this moment Gongfu style with my Yixing Tea pot. This tea is a Darjeeling Tea, and is also one of my favorites. This cup has a deep floral, sweet and nutty flavor, but not much of a muscatel flavor that is associated with Darjeeling Teas. Because of the "autumnal label" this tea was harvested late in the harvesting year. I find all First Flush teas (Darjeeling or otherwise) to be the teas with bet best flavor. First Flush means the first harvested tea in the tea harvesting season.

Darjeeling Green Tea

Another tea I bought from Tfactors Teas was Darjeeling Green Tea - Gopaldhara Tea Estate, Darjeeling. I love Green Teas, but sad to say many less than premium Green Teas have a "grassy taste". In this tea I do taste a bit of a grassy taste in this tea at first, but glad to say that grassy taste goes away after a few sips because the after taste lingers for a bit, so the finish on this tea is not clean ("clean finish" means little or no after taste). The after taste is what makes this tea enjoyable, but I doubt I'd buy more of this tea after I run out.

But remember the health benefits Green Tea offers, and if you like Green Teas, don't pass this one up for it is better than most I've had, and at $8.61 for four ounces - it's truly a great deal.

Darjeeling Premium

Well, as I've stated before my favorite teas are from the Darjeeling province of India. The teas that are grown in Darjeeling are grown at a very high elevation around 750 - 2000 meters in century old Tea Gardens. So these teas are usually the best teas you can get (in my opinion).

I bought this Darjeeling Black Tea from TFactor Teas a few weeks back, and it has a simple name of "Darjeeling Premium".

I drink Black, Green and White Darjeeling Teas all of the time (every day), so my taste for a good quality Darjeeling is very discerning.

This Darjeeling Premium Tea has the signature muscatel aftertaste (most likely the reason Darjeeling Teas are my favorite) like most Darjeeling Teas have. This tea is a bit stronger than most Darjeeling Teas, but is still suitable to drink any time of the day.

Now as I finish up this little blog note on Darjeeling Premium, I'm off to go steep myself another cup!

Ceylon Sonata

I ordered this tin of tea called Ceylon Sonata from Adagio Teas a few weeks ago.

For the price this tea is a good buy, but I believe this tea is better suited for your average "Lipton" or "Tetley" tea drinkers. Don't get me wrong, this tea is a high quality tea that is far better than your "Lipton" or "Tetley" teas, it's just that I believe that the average person who does not have a "taste" for premium teas would find this tea a better choice for a starter tea per se.

And just so that I don't sound to unfair about this tea, this is the second time I have ordered this tea from Adagio.

I would also recommend this tea for mornings, and this is one of the few teas I would consider adding sugar, honey and/or milk to give you a different taste. (There are very few teas what I'd add anything to, for I like my teas pure)

Satrupa Golden Pekoe

I ordered this tea Satrupa Golden Pekoe - Satrupa Tea Estate, Upper Assam from the same order as I posted here: Organic Queen’s Namsang, from Tfactor Teas.
I believe this tea is a good all around tea that can be good for ant time of the day. The cup is very balanced even with it's dark coloring. To me it also has a clean finish after a few moments. I'm glad I took advantage of the tea sale that Tfactor had a few weeks ago. I usually drink only single estate teas, like the one here, and I am glad to have found this one for it is a really good change if you drink the same tea all of the time (of which I am not guilty of). I read on the Tfactor site that this tea is a limited edition tea, so I might just get some more before they run out.

Organic Queen’s Namsang

I ordered this tea Organic Queen’s Namsang - Rani Tea Estate, Lower Assam from Tfactor Teas a few weeks ago due to a sale they had going on by email invite only. I am glad I ordered this tea for it is a good cup to have in the morning. The tea is round and it has a malty aftertaste to me, and a good strong cup to wake you up. Tfactor Teas recommended this tea for an afternoon tea, but I believe it's better suited for the morning to get you going. I don't find this tea to be a relaxing tea for the end of the day like I find Darjeeling Teas tend to be for me.

If you like strong well rounded cups of tea, this one is a good choice.