October 2024 – Gourmet Loose Leaf Tea Subscription | Curious Tea

Welcome to the October 2024 edition of the Curious Tea subscription! Here’s a closer look at the four exciting new teas that we are sharing with our subscribers this month.

For the lighter side of the selection we start with a white tea from Darjeeling’s Rohini Tea Estate that delivers a balanced flavour with a woody profile. The next light tea we selected this month is a lightly oxidised Milk Oolong from the highlands of Doi Mae Salong in northern Thailand.

For the dark side of the selection we chose a Ruby Oolong version of the Milk Oolong from Thailand that has been heavily oxidised for a complex taste with fruity notes. The final tea we selected this month, is a Second Flush Golden Tips Darjeeling from Gopaldhara that was crafted in a style more similar to Chinese red teas for a lighter, maltier and sweeter taste.

This month’s teas
Light boxes Santikhiri Milk Oolong Discovery boxes
Mixed boxes Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White
Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong
Dark boxes Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips

Our Discovery subscription boxes contain 10g taster pouches of all of the above mentioned teas. If you are a subscriber you will benefit from a 10% discount on all teas from our tea shop!

Let’s get into further detail on these teas featured in our October tea subscription boxes.

Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White

Blog - Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White

Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White is a balanced First Flush white tea from Rohini Tea Estate. Entirely hand picked and carefully processed by hand in order to retain the shape of the fine leaves. The oxidation is light and natural, the leaves are simply dried in the sun under controlled conditions. This results in a woody taste with a coating mouthfeel and a sweet aftertaste. This particular lot is from the March 2024 harvest.

Like all our Rohini and Gopaldhara teas, we source it directly from Rishi Saria, the owner and director of Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates. Rohini Tea Estate is located along the route that connects the towns of Siliguri and Kurseong. Surrounded by a beautiful natural environment, this estate produces tea from relatively young trees. The estate has had a chequered past, not actually producing any tea for about 30 years after it was shut in 1962. Recently it has been replanted with young tea trees, so sometimes it is referred to as the youngest tea estate in Darjeeling. It is now going from strength to strength and is producing more and more interesting and higher quality teas. Most recently Rohini have been elevating the quality and flavours by focusing on smaller hand processed batches and more unusual types of tea.

Rohini tea estate, Darjeeling

This Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White tea is one of the most naturally-produced teas from Rohini. The plucking is carried out entirely by hand and the plucking standard is extremely high, consisting of fine, young tippy leaves. After plucking, instead of rolling and oxidising, the tea undergoes natural but controlled withering in the sun, until the desired level is achieved. Following this, the tea is left naturally to dry. During this hand processing, the tea does go through a very light, natural oxidation. So this is a very delicate, but also very natural processing.

It consists of smaller younger leaves that have an appealing silver colour. When brewed, this Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips White tea produces a bright clear liquor with a light golden colour and a lightly woody aroma. The balanced taste delivers a woody flavour with fruity and floral notes. This tea possesses a coating mouthfeel which makes it easy to drink and comforting. There is a good degree of sweetness, especially on the aftertaste. The woody profile does deliver a lightly drying impression. This is a great version of a white tea from Darjeeling.

This tea is best brewed at 80°C for 2-3 minutes and can be brewed 3+ times. Like all top grade teas from Gopaldhara and Rohini, you can try experimenting with gongfu brewing.

You can also buy this Darjeeling Rohini Silver Tips white tea in our online shop. You may also be interested in our other 2024 harvest teas from Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates.

Santikhiri Milk Oolong

Blog - Santikhiri Milk Oolong

Santikhiri Milk Oolong is a characterfully smooth, lightly oxidised oolong that is produced from a Taiwanese Jin Xuan TRES #12 cultivar. This oolong comes from around Santikhiri village (formerly Mae Salong) located in Mae Fa Luang District around the highlands of Doi Mae Salong mountain, close to the border with Burma and Laos. Santikhiri Milk Oolong is an organic tea grown at an altitude of around 1,200-1,600 metres and this particular lot was plucked in April 2024. We source this tea directly from the owner of the plantation in Doi Mae Salong.

Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai, Thailand

This Milk Oolong tea is made from a Taiwanese cultivar called Jin Xuan ‘Golden Daylily’ (金萱) or TRES #12, the number given to it by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station. Milk Oolong is also sometimes known as Nai Xiang (奶香) ‘Milk Fragrance’ in Chinese. The Jin Xuan cultivar is very popular with farmers since the plants are more hardy and produce a higher yield. From a tea lover’s point of view, Jin Xuan is an attractive aromatic drink with a lovely sweet and creamy character.

Unfortunately there are plenty of Milk Oolong teas (whether from Jin Xuan cultivar or others) that are flavoured either with milk or vanilla in order to imitate or enhance the natural taste that the leaves of Jin Xuan develop. Any genuine Milk Oolong, such as this one, is always produced from the Jin Xuan cultivar and should not be flavoured or enhanced with additional flavours in any way.

Santikhiri Milk Oolong comes in tightly rolled dark green leaves that produce a brisk yellow-green clear liquor with a lightly verdant and creamy aroma. This tea produces a light cup that is smooth and refreshing. The taste is vegetal, lightly ‘green’ tasting, with a tangy edge. There is distinctive creaminess that this type of tea is famous for, which mostly comes in at the very top notes and on the aftertaste. The creaminess and milkiness is manifested mostly in a mouthfeel rather than a distinctive milky taste. The aftertaste is long-lasting and has a lovely nutty top note. When compared to other Milk Oolong teas that have a more pronounced milky and creamy flavour and mouthfeel, especially our award-winning Organic Milk Oolong, this tea has a more lightly-oxidised fresh green flavour with a light, characteristic Jin Xuan creamy mouthfeel.

We suggest brewing at 90°C for 3-4 minutes according to your taste. It can be brewed 3+ times.

You can also buy this Santikhiri Milk Oolong tea in our online shop.

Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong

Blog - Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong

Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong is a smooth, highly oxidised oolong that is produced from a Taiwanese Jin Xuan TRES #12 cultivar. This oolong comes from around Santikhiri village (formerly Mae Salong) located in Mae Fa Luang District around the highlands of Doi Mae Salong mountain, close to the border with Burma and Laos. Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong is an organic tea grown at an altitude of around 1,200-1,600 metres and this particular lot was plucked in Summer 2024. We source this tea directly from the owner of the plantation in Doi Mae Salong.

This Milk Ruby Oolong tea is made from a Taiwanese cultivar called Jin Xuan ‘Golden Daylily’ (金萱) or TRES #12, the number given to it by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station. Milk Oolong is also sometimes known as Nai Xiang (奶香) ‘Milk Fragrance’ in Chinese. The Jin Xuan cultivar is very popular with farmers since the plants are more hardy and produce a higher yield. From a tea lover’s point of view, Jin Xuan is an attractive aromatic drink with a lovely sweet and creamy character when made into a lightly oxidised oolong. However the Ruby version is oxidised to a high degree, almost pushing it into the black tea category. This results in a smooth flavour with attractive fruity and honey notes and zero astringency or bitterness.

View over Doi Mae Salong and Santikhiri Village
View over Doi Mae Salong and Santikhiri Village

Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong comes in tightly rolled leaves that open slowly to produce a golden liquor. The flavour profile starts on the tangy and fruity side, progressing onto fuller flavorous that are sweeter with floral notes and a soft creamy mouthfeel. The clean aftertaste is comforting and warming, with lingering notes of acacia honey.

We suggest brewing at 90°C for 3-4 minutes according to your taste. Since the leaves are slow to open we suggest the first infusion to be longer than subsequent infusions. It can be brewed 3+ times.

You can also buy this Santikhiri Milk Ruby Oolong tea in our online shop.

Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips

Blog - Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips Black

Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips is a malty Second Flush tea that is crafted in a style similar to Chinese black teas. Consisting of golden tips that are picked from AV2 cultivar plants, it produces a fruity and malty liquor with a satisfying taste. This small batch was picked and processed in June 2024.

Like all our of Gopaldhara teas, we source this tea directly from Rishi Saria, the owner and director of Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates. Gopaldhara Tea Estate is nestled in the Mirik Valley, in the Himalayan foothills, and is one of the highest tea estates in Darjeeling with elevations of up to 2,100m. It is renowned for producing teas of exceptional quality and very often quite unusual character. The estate is also known for innovation, with new types of tea that utilise new and traditional production methods being developed every season. This Gopaldhara Golden Tips is no exception, the flavour profile specifically designed to both represent a Darjeeling character but at the same time delivering a black tea with an approachable flavour that is more similar to a Dian Hong or other malty Chinese red teas.

Gopaldhara Tea Estate Map, Darjeeling

It is made entirely from leaves picked from AV2 plants. The AV2 plant name stands for Ambari Vegetative 2, one of the various clonal plants popular in Darjeeling. AV2 is perhaps one of the most preferred clones in Darjeeling, even though it was originally developed in the plains. The popularity of this particular plant stems from the prominent fragrance and aroma of the finished tea. This plant is very prone to drought and insect attacks so the best teas come from plants grown at higher elevation in very good soil that are picked only during dry weather.

This Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips consists of handpicked and carefully processed wiry leaves that have plenty of golden tips, a single leaf and a bud. Being a Second Flush picking, it is more oxidised, delivering a complex profile with a satisfying malty taste. This is combined with fruity and cocoa notes to deliver an overall sweet impression with a lasting smooth comforting aftertaste. The aroma is definitely reminiscent of Dian Hong teas so this would appeal to fans of maltier, smoother teas with little to zero tannins.

This tea is best brewed at 90°C for 3-4 minutes and can be brewed 2+ times. Like all top grade teas from Gopaldhara and Rohini, you should try experimenting with gongfu brewing.

You can also buy this Darjeeling Gopaldhara Golden Tips black tea in our online shop. You may also be interested in our other 2024 harvest teas from Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates.

We really do hope that you enjoy this tea selection and are looking forward to the selection in our November boxes!

For next month we will be featuring a Japanese tea selection. We opted for two teas from the the Kajihara-san tea garden in Ashikita, a Koshun Kamairicha pan-fried green tea and a Koshun Wakocha black tea. And we are introducing two new teas, a shade grown deep steamed sencha crafted from the Saemidori cultivar and a Sannenbancha, a heavily roasted twig tea that is aged for three years.

If reading this has made you curious about our teas, but you don’t yet subscribe to a monthly tea selection, you can sign up for our tea boxes in just a few clicks. We ship worldwide from London, UK.

We always love to hear from you, so if you have any questions, suggestions or just want to chat about tea, email us at contact@curioustea.com, via our Facebook page or via Twitter.

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