In Nepal, there are only a handful of tea producers that own and operate their own tea gardens and processing facilities, and Mist Valley Tea is one of those few. Located at an altitude of 1300 meters (approximately 4,200 feet) above the sea-level, this garden produces delightful and distinctive teas. This beautiful uniformly styled, long-leafed, tippy, black tea brews to a light amber cup with a slight vegetal aroma. The taste tends more towards a traditional Darjeeling with nutmeg overtones.
My Review:
I opened up the baggie I received as a gift from a Steepster member and sniffed the leaf. It didn't reveal much. I took out one scoop, which was half the sample and examined. The leaf looks pretty much like the picture. It still isn't giving up a lot of information.
The leaf was placed in my press with 12oz of boiling water and steeped for 3 minutes. The brew is much darker than the light amber cup S&V mention. The wet leaf aroma is familiar, like green beans and stewed broccoli. This aroma gives way to notes that are fruity and spicy like Darjeeling, If that's not enough to peak your curiosity, it is also accompanied by the scent of browned cocoa. Seriously Interesting!
Wow, this is really good.
The taste is of cocoa and malt but not like a Yunnan tea. This is more like fruity Darjeeling. It is mellow, without bitterness and only enough astringency to be good. Seriously, seriously good. You need some of this!
Cup two is was steeped the next day and is only slightly lighter on the cocoa and the malt. This is still an excellent cup. The Darjeeling remains strong and appears late in the sip. This is like two teas in one and they are excellent together.
This is one of the most interesting teas I have sipped in a while.
When I was in Darjeeling, many of the tea plantation workers were Nepalese.
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