The first harvest of the year is always a treat to try so I jumped at the chance to try Adagio Masters Rohini First Flush. This darjeeling black tea promised a lively bite and abundance of fresh flavour – and did not disappoint.
This is part of the Masters Collection from Adagio which are single origin teas and generally much higher quality than their regular teas. You will pay $5 for a sample and $19 for a 2oz bag of the February 2020 harvest. Each Masters Collection tea tells you the harvest time, origin, a little about the tea farmers and area.
The Rohini First Flush in the Masters Collection is grown at an elevation of 1350m and is good for three steeps. It is an early harvest for the area so a real treat as the weather throughout the year changes the taste of teas so this one is particularly pure yet flavourful.
It says to steep at boiling for 2-3 mins but honestly, it seems quite delicate for a black tea and I think I oversteeped a bit at 3 minutes. I tried a second cup later at 190F and 2 mins and it was much more balanced with no bitterness to the aftertaste.
The tea is paler than it appears in my mug. Teas seem to take on a darker colour from the pink mug but was quite pale with a light yellow colour. It definitely looks more like a green tea, even the steeped loose leaf is quite green and pale for a black tea.
Adagio Masters Rohini First Flush
The ‘first flush’ tea of the spring in Darjeeling is famous for its lively bite and abundance of fresh flavor. These rare teas look almost like green teas, but they are actually black tea. Our Spring Darjeeling is a spirited embodiment of these qualities. This year’s DJ1 offers a fresh bouquet of bright fruit blossom notes. Silky texture with white grape, floral, and sultana notes with a hint of minerality and a soft finish. This tea comes to us from the Rohini Tea Estate located in the Kurseong valley of Darjeeling, India. Its elevation of roughly 4400 ft imparts complexity to the infusion. Our 2020 first of the year, super early, late February harvest is a rarity that we could not pass up. Limited availability!
Adagio Masters Rohini First Flush definitely lived up to the promise of a lively bite. When it brewed so pale, I was expecting a tasteless cup but it has a complex yet balanced mix of mineral, orchard and floral notes. Probably more apple than sultana/grape to my palette but they are lingering in there too.
The second steep was more floral and balanced but less complex. It has a delicious scent that even my cat wanted a sip of it. The third steep had almost no mineral taste to it and a slight crispness that wasn’t evident in the other steeps. Definitely one to enjoy several steeps from, but as mentioned, I would lower the steeping temperature on this one.
Have you tried any of the Masters Collection from Adagio yet?