Description
Darjeeling Rohini Moonlight Ruby 2022 is a fine First Flush Oolong tea from Rohini Tea Estate. Like all our Rohini and Gopaldhara teas, we source it directly from Rishi Saria, the owner and director of Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates. This is an excellent quality tea that consists of full young leaf and tips picked from the best quality AV2 bushes. It has a supremely smooth flavour with a soft creamy taste. This lot is a ‘FTGFOP1 Moonlight’ pick from the early March 2022 harvest.
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 a long period of time. 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.
This Moonlight Ruby was created as a mildly oxidised oolong tea that delivers a wonderfully smooth flavour with a lovely honey aspect. The young leaves and tips are plucked whole by hand from the best specially selected AV2 bushes. The early spring harvest ensures that the leaves picked are full of nutrients after the long winter hibernation. The plants coming out of hibernation give their full strength to the young leaves, which translates into fine captivating flavours. The leaves are then delicately processed by hand to retain the full leaf. The natural medium oxidation is done briefly overnight to retain the fresh character as well as to keep the leaves of this fine tea intact.
When brewed Darjeeling Rohini Moonlight Ruby Oolong produces a light amber liquor with a floral and faintly fruity smell. The taste is supremely smooth, with a soft creamy and velvety mouthfeel. In fact the texture of the liquor is that of a black tea with milk. The full-bodied taste has floral and fruity notes with just a hint of mineral flavours that Darjeeling teas are known for. The aftertaste is fresh, with no dryness or astringency and a hint of citrus and honey notes. The honey notes tend to stand out more as the tea cools down. This tea is in really in a league of its own, delivering a highly elevated experience that is far above from the more common Darjeeling teas.
This tea is best brewed at 90°C for 3-4 minutes and can be brewed 2+ times.