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Me again, looking for some good darjeling tea. Thunderbolt order is somewhere over the rainbow, teecampaign was good but not so many choices. Palais de thes is bof, not even close in moscatel teas I have had from india in the past. Any help?
Thx

It's been a long time since I've had any Darjeeling, so I don't have any direct experience to help you.

However, I recall people talking about Lochan Tea a long time ago. It looks like they no longer sell tea directly online (https://www.lochantea.com), and instead they direct you to a vendor called Teaswan or Teaswing when you click their "Buy Tea Now" button.

That vendor looks like a bit more of a Jack-of-all-trades in terms of the variety of styles that they offer, and I have no idea what their relationship with Lochan tea is, but they do have a few teas available (https://teaswing.com/collections/buy-darjeeling-tea).

But again, I have no personal experience, and don't know how decent they might be.

Andrew

I've never ordered from Thunderbolt so I can't make any comparisons, but Lochan has some good to great Darjeelings. I order from them directly, and you might send them an email to see if they'll sell to you. Their Giddapahar and Jungpana offerings have been good in the past. What-Cha also has some nice Darjeelings (they had a Rohini Golden Buds Second Flush a few years ago that was excellent), along with Jun Chiyabari teas from Nepal. Hojo also has some Darjeelings, though I can't vouch for the quality as I haven't tried them.

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:01 pm

It's been a long time since I've had any Darjeeling, so I don't have any direct experience to help you.

However, I recall people talking about Lochan Tea a long time ago. It looks like they no longer sell tea directly online (https://www.lochantea.com), and instead they direct you to a vendor called Teaswan or Teaswing when you click their "Buy Tea Now" button.

That vendor looks like a bit more of a Jack-of-all-trades in terms of the variety of styles that they offer, and I have no idea what their relationship with Lochan tea is, but they do have a few teas available (https://teaswing.com/collections/buy-darjeeling-tea).

But again, I have no personal experience, and don't know how decent they might be.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew I'll give them a look. I'm not a huge darjeeling drinker but every once in a while I enjoy having a good cup in the afternoons.

GaoShan wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:21 pm

I've never ordered from Thunderbolt so I can't make any comparisons, but Lochan has some good to great Darjeelings. I order from them directly, and you might send them an email to see if they'll sell to you. Their Giddapahar and Jungpana offerings have been good in the past. What-Cha also has some nice Darjeelings (they had a Rohini Golden Buds Second Flush a few years ago that was excellent), along with Jun Chiyabari teas from Nepal. Hojo also has some Darjeelings, though I can't vouch for the quality as I haven't tried them.

Great thanks for the info. I'll have a look. I saw hojo put the darjeling for sale just recently too. I should make an order soon.

Hojo is never wrong for any kind of tea. Sometimes on the pricey side but quality is there.

Yes I like Hojo. I have yet to find a tea i didn't like from him. Quality is excellent always.

Anyone heard of tea emporium also? I saw they had some good options.

Just a quick update for my darjeling search.
Finally my orders arrived from Hojo, tea emporium and thunderbolt.

Hojo was excellent as always, very clean teas and I enjoyed them a lot. Explosion of muskatel in aroma and flavor.

Tea emporium, hmm now I wish I was not so sensitive to chemicals. whatever was inside their teas, I reacted.the taste was ok but I had a bad reaction. Dizzy and massive migraine. I tried it twice and same thing. Shipment arrived super fast though, FedEx package was at my house in less than a week and the owner is easy to communicate with. will wait a bit and give them another try. I'm hoping maybe it was not a sensitivity to pesticides ect.

Thunderbolt tea, now there was some issues with my package to begin with but owner sent a new FedEx package and I received my order in a about a week. The teas were fantastic. I don't think I've ever had darjeling that good, all of them were excellent quality and clean. Castelton moonlight imperial tea was one of the best darjeeling ever!

Thanks for all your input.

Teafortea wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 26, 2023 10:29 am

Just a quick update for my darjeling search.
…….
Thunderbolt tea, now there was some issues with my package to begin with but owner sent a new FedEx package and I received my order in an about a week. The teas were fantastic. I don't think I've ever had darjeling that good, all of them were excellent quality and clean. Castelton moonlight imperial tea was one of the best darjeeling ever!

Thanks for all your input.

Glad to hear you are finally enjoying Thunderbolt’s darjeeling. Did you get all 1st Flush 2023 or? Curious which teas you got from them.

I have not started yet on the new spring ones, only from last year. I think the new ones are still not up yet.

Attaching a screen shot of my order. I'm def going to be ordering more in the future.

@Teafortea nice selections. For their teas vendor posted recommended steeping parameters are pretty good overall. I’m still enjoying 2022 1st flush from Thunderbolt, but do find white darjeeling are even better within +-9 months of production, still good a year later, just doesn’t pop with flavor in the same way.

I've enjoyed them both ways. I usually brew Darjeeling in my super old 2-cup brown Betty but I found Thunderbolt brew instruction to bring more long after taste so I continued like that for the rest of the teas. I want to try the new ones also, I had only one time white Darjeeling a long time ago from Palais des Thes and I don't remember being impressed.

My husband says that he really feels that Spring time has arrived... in our bank account. I love new fresh harvest teas.