I can’t claim that I was born a tea snob, though I do blame my Mere for making me a tea drinker instead of a coffee drinker like my parents.  I frequently stayed at my grandparents when Mum and Dad were at work and there was always tea.  My Pere was very Irish, he liked tea that could dissolve a spoon, my Mere favoured a weaker tea – I was somewhere in between.  One of my cousins recently said to me, you don’t like that dark nasty stuff like Grandpa do you?  Yes, yes, I do.

Red Rose and Salada were staple teas until I was in high school – I blame my shift away on two of my friends from back then.  My peer group at the time was a mixed back of ethnic groups, one of the girls in the group was Indian at a time when Indians were not common in our area.  Kim introduced to me to the joys of Indian cuisine (mmm, korma) and Darjeeling tea.  For years and years, I drank Twinnings Darjeeling because it was the only loose tea you could find in our grocery stores up here.

Then tea came into vogue and with the advent of a few chains and the internet, Darjeeling was easier to find.  That didn’t mean it was any good.  I tried two Darjeelings from Teaopia, one from David’s, one from Teavana and they all reminded me of one thing – hedge clippings.  The Darjeeling I fell in love with is a mellow tea, a smooth tea – light in flavour, it doesn’t need milk or sugar.  For me, Darjeeling is soothing and the hedge clippings are far from soothing.

With the last order from Harney, I opted to get a $2 sample packet of their generic Darjeeling.  I love that Harney does this because our local chain requires you get a base 50g which means I potentially end up with $12 of tea I do not like.  A $2 sample gives me about 6 spoonfuls which makes about two of my kettles worth of tea.   Harney describes this tea as being a blend of First Flush and Autumnal leaves and states it leaves a light colour in the cup.  It’s rated as briskness 2, body 2, aroma 3.

Finally, a Darjeeling that was as advertised – light in colour, flavour and a pleasant aroma.  I will admit that I drank that kettle’s worth of tea rather quickly and am now saving the remainder of the tea leaves for one of those days where nothing else will do.  If you’re a green tea or herbal drinker, you will probably not like this tea even though it does have a scent rather reminiscent of green tea.   If you like heavy robust tea flavour, you’ll likely find this tea a little too tepid for you but if you’re like Goldilocks and like in between, then this tea is just right.

Verdict: A