Darjeeling Rohini Spicy Oolong 2024

Description

Darjeeling Rohini Spicy Oolong is an unusual oolong tea from Rohini Tea Estate made from clones of an unknown wild tea plant. This is a rare opportunity to try this unique tea as a very minimal quantity is produced every year. The plants are carefully picked and the leaves are processed by hand to bring out a spiced and peppery profile. This particular lot is a Second Flush harvest from May 2024.

You may also be interested in our other 2024 harvest teas from Gopaldhara and Rohini Tea Estates as well as a Spicy White tea and Spicy Black tea versions from the same plants.

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.

This Rohini Spicy Oolong tea is a prime example of an unusual and small batch hand processed tea from this estate. The plants that are used for this tea are clones of a wild tea plant of unknown origin. When the tea replanting at Rohini was done around the turn of the century, a wild tea tree was found growing nearby that provided the cuttings for these new clonal trees. The history or the type of this original wild plant is unknown. As the newly planted trees were particularly hardy and strong, they have become known locally by the name Bhime after Bhim, a mythological character from the Mahabharata epic who was considered to be very strong.

While the plants are strong, unfortunately the leaves also originally produced a very rough flavour when made into a fully or partially oxidised teas. As there is a limited amount of plants, there is also not enough output to produce a green tea. Hence a white tea was the first type that was developed from these plants. Due to continued experimentation with other tea types, a few limited black tea batches were produced. This is the newest version crafted, a medium oxidised oolong that delivers the spicy peppery flavour without the harshness or astringency of much earlier batches.

This Darjeeling Rohini Spicy Oolong has neat attractive leaves with plenty of silver buds. It produces a dark liquor that is peppery, malty and stony. There is a definite Darjeeling character, although the very unusual dominant spicy notes do contribute to a unique flavour profile. The flavours are smooth and balanced with vegetal notes of sweet red capsicums and black pepper. It has a juicy and sweet aftertaste that is quite brisk. It is definitely a tea with a rather unique profile, unlike anything else, that is a must try!

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, we can highly recommend experimenting with gongfu brewing.

Darjeeling Rohini Spicy Oolong tea was first featured in our January 2025 Curious Tea Subscription Boxes.