Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Puttabong clonal queen organic sftgfop-1 Ex-2 and North Tukvar Clonal delight sftgfop-1 EX-3/1st flush Darjeeling tea 2012:



Puttabong clonal queen organic sftgfop-1 Ex-2 and North Tukvar Clonal delight sftgfop-1 EX-3/1st flush Darjeeling tea 2012:

Puttabong Tea estate in Darjeeling is one of the oldest Darjeeling teas producing estate. It is located in the Northern valley of Darjeeling hills. Actually Puttabong and North Tukvar tea estates are divided into 2 tea estates after the Jayshree tea group took over the tea gardens. It was formerly known as the Tukvar tea estate. The garden was very big and had different special tea bushes in it. So in the late 1960s this estate was divided in 2 tea gardens. The North Tukvar part of the garden consists of assamica type of bushes and now days they also have some high quality exclusive clones from which exclusive high quality teas are made. The Puttabong portion of the plantation has recently converted into an organic plantation which has both china and clonal varietal of tea bushes.

Right from the beginning of my career with Tea Emporium, we always had Puttabong clonal queen in our list of teas with every 1st flush harvest but last year during the 1st flush 2011 harvest we could not have this tea in our list since there was an embargo going on in Darjeeling due to which no teas were allowed to get dispatched to the exporters or re-sellers for a month and by the time the embargo was lifted the quality of the teas really went down in this garden. So we had to keep it away from our list of 1st flush teas.

I was in a constant touch with Mr. Somani (the Superintendant of North Tukvar and Puttabong tea estates)and he had promised me that he will make some of the finest teas for us by making his expert pluckers pluck some of the youngest and freshest buds and shoots from the high elevation clonal field of both the plantations.

The 1st invoice that we selected from this expert tea maker of Darjeeling tea industry was Puttabong clonal Queen –Organic sftgfop-1/Ex-2.This fantastic tea is plucked from the RR, P312 and AV2 clonal bushes of the plantation. The dry leafs are small in size and consists of high amounts of needle like silver tips and has a very bright greenish appearance in this state .The dry leafs also releases some exotic fruity flavors of green apples and cucumber in this state. When steeped for 3 minute this tea release bright liquor in the cup. Each sip is super smooth like silk and leaves fruity flavors of green apples and mangoes and further ends with a lemony after taste on the palate. A truly majestic tea of the harvest made in a limited quantity!

The next invoice that took us by surprise was an excellent 1st flush 2012 tea from the North Tukvar tea estate. This batch of tea is produced in a very limited quantity from the youngest clonal fields of this plantation which has been plucked for the first time to produce a batch of tea. This tea is extremely white/greenish in appearance since it has a lot of silver tips in it and releases a typical fruity flavor of pine apples and guavas in this state. When steeped for 3 minutes the cup gives out light and bright liquor.Each sip is extremely fruity and delicious which reminds of a very high quality champagne and leaves a soft butter like taste on the palate as an after taste. A true tea lover must agree that this limited edition of exclusive tea should not be missed at any cost! It a rare premium tea better known as the North Tukvar clonal delight sftgfop-1 Ex-3/1st Flush 2012.

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