Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Margaret`s Hope 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009




Margaret’s Hope 1st Flush Darjeeling tea 2009

As days past away hunting for good teas in various gardens in Darjeeling, I got a call from Mr. Anil Gurung (factory assistant) Margaret’s Hope Tea Estate that a couple of excellent batches of tea have just been made and I should be there by the early morning on the 21st of March 2009 as another big buyer from Japan was coming for the same tea, so I quickly took my camera and started my journey from Darjeeling to Margaret’s Hope, we were passing through some very steep road and beautiful scenery could be seen from the car’s window but I was actually getting impatient, finally I happened to reach the garden and I saw Mr. Anil Gurung and Mr. Pande (Manager of the garden) waiting for me, I immediately got down from the car and we all headed for the tea tasting room of the garden, after I reached there I came to know that the big Japanese buyer had given her bid for the teas and wanted the teas at any cost, so I was a bit nervous while we did the tea tasting but I must say both the teas were simply excellent, the first one that I was offered was the Margaret’s hope ftgfop-1 china spl.DJ-4 which was made from pure china origin (bushes grown from the seeds)leafs and shoots, had a very bright leaf appearance and the cup showed some very interesting fruity character and the most important factor regarding this tea was that it had an after taste of young fruits and flowers that remained on the palate for a long time so there was no turning back ,so we had a stiff bidding completion with the other Japanese buyer and luckily we got the tea, Infact I was very happy that I got a very nice tea in the time when there was very less amount of good teas in Darjeeling, the next tea was this tea called Margaret’s hope (Wonder) White tea, this tea is made exclusively made for us from young clonal bushes like AV2 and P312 by Mr. Gurung (factory assistant ,Margaret’s hope),with full unsorted long leafs and full sized buds, I must say it’s a master craftsmanship right from the tea plucker who carefully plucked the tender shoots and buds to the factory assistant who made the tea, its simply a beauty from dry leaf to the cup, a true champagne of the 1st Flush Darjeeling.

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