Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea and Earl Grey Tea Review

Today I’m reviewing two black teas from Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea and Organic Earl Grey Tea. Monday I’ll be reviewing the last four Two Leaves and a Bud teas I have – all green teas.

A nice complex darjeeling

I’ll be starting with the Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea first. Darjeeling, one of the highest growing regions of tea in the world, is from Northern India. This Darjeeling is 100% pure FTGFOP#1 = Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. One of the best and most expensive qualities of tea consisting of a high proportion of tips and buds.

There wasn’t much aroma to this tea, even the wet tea bad didn’t have much scent – so I’m expecting this tea to be delicate. The color was a golden medium brown. Wow. I generally love all Darjeeling teas I sample. This one was a complex yet delicate tea on the palate just as I expected. Even though I steeped for only 4 minutes, there was a hint of a bitterness on the end note indicative of a high tannin content characteristic of black teas. This tea is astringent in nature and is high in caffeine! I can feel right away even after the first sip. Phew! The flavours of the tea linger in your mouth even after a few minutes and create a umami. Not a beginners black tea.

Ceylon OP#1 - Orange Pekoe

Next is the classic Earl Grey – a black tea base scented with bergamot. The ingredients in this one are Ceylon tea with begamot. This tea was darker in color, a brown color with a slight aubergine undertone. If you click on the image on the left you can see the beautiful color of the broken tea leaves. I could see the oil of begamot form a thin film at the top of the tea. This tea definitely has a kick to it. The tea starts off with a hint of bergamot with a sharp and slighty astringent flavour of tea. The end notes are lemony and clean. My feeling is that is has less caffeine than the Darjeeling. If you like a sharp tasting Earl Grey then this is the tea for you.

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