Tea Review: Vahdam Teas’ Castleton Imperial Darjeeling First Flush

Vahdam Teas has been established to make available the luxury of pure & unblended Indian teas to tea lovers across the globe. Unlike your everyday cuppa. Vahdam teas do not travel in containers for months before being packaged and sold. All our teas are procured direct from plantations & tea growers within 24-72 hours of production, packaged garden fresh and shipped directly from source in India.” Let’s discover a Darjeeling tea they offer from the 2016 spring harvest.

– TEA INFORMATION –

Country of Origin: India

Ingredients: Black tea

Water Temperature: 90 degrees Celsius

Steep Time: 5 minutes

– APPEARANCE+AROMA –

Dry Leaf: light green, fuzzy silver tips and floral scent

Wet Leaf: oak green, aroma reminding me of dried apricots 

Liquor: dark golden, sweet fruit and strong honeysuckle notes

First Sip Thought: “Stone fruit cake.”

Tasting Notes: If you follow me on Instagram, you may already know that Darjeeling teas hold a special place in my heart. So, I went into this tea tasting preparing to be wowed and I wasn’t disappointed. Going back to 1885, Castleton is one of the oldest tea gardens in Darjeeling and includes mainly China bushes from the 1860s. This tea was harvested in early April 2016. The mouthfeel is well structured and light with a very low astringency level. In addition to the spring flower aspects, sometimes I found a few sips to be slightly grassy. However, the steeps finished with delicate accents of dried peaches and apricots which added to its sweet and lively ‘bite’. It had me dreaming of a stone fruit tea cake to enjoy between sips. The exceptional balance from this tea offers a relaxing and delightful cup. 

Verdict:

tea review

*Interested in this tea? You can find it online here.

2 thoughts on “Tea Review: Vahdam Teas’ Castleton Imperial Darjeeling First Flush”

  1. I just received my first shipment of Vahdam Tea I love the taste already, my question is there any caffeine is this Tea? How many cups a day do you suggest? Thanks

    Reply
    • Hi Diane,
      I’m glad to hear you’re loving your order already. Yes, there is caffeine in this tea. All true tea has caffeine – it depends on the type of tea for the caffeine level, though. Darjeeling can be relatively high in caffeine. Herbal teas (which do not come from the tea plant) do not have any caffeine. I don’t really get affected by caffeine, so I am okay to have a few cups of this tea in one day. I would recommend having 1-2 cups and seeing how you feel before making more if you’re not sure. I hope that helps 🙂

      Reply

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