2007 Darjeeling Thurbo Oriental White Delight First Flush

By the end of March arrives the tea that is one of the most favored in Czech Republic and Slovakia – the Darjeeling’s. This typical Indian tea is harvested from two to three times a year. While the second and third harvest – called second and third flush – are typical light black (red) teas with some floral smell, the first flush is much greener.

It’s still black tea, but retains some characteristics of green teas. The fermentation is light leaving the tea green and floral. And today the tea producers following the taste of tea drinkers make first flushes of darjeelings greener and greener.



This Darjeeling tea from Thurbo plantation is sold by local vendor tealand.sk for $23/2oz. According to information provided by the vendor, this tea was collected on March 22nd this year from northern hills facing the famous Kangchenjunga. The tea leaves were withered for two days.

The greenest Darjeeling I tried this year shows lots of hairy tips and nearly non-fermented leaves. The aroma of the dry leaves is very strong, very green and wild. It reminds me of freshly scythed meadow. Please, click the picture to see, how beautiful the leaves are!



The liquor is very light, very bright with just a touch of yellow. I prepare this tea with quite cold water (85 Celsius, 185 F) making three or four infusions, first starting at 1 minute and then each subsequent infusion is one minute longer than the last one.The tea is very aromatic with familiar Darjeeling fruity smell and taste – sweet, slightly acidic, hiding the aroma of dried apples and grapes.


Actually, even when this tea is sold as Darjeeling tea, I believe that this is white tea made in the area of Darjeeling. I like it a lot; it’s a simple but cheerful companion for warm spring evenings.