Castleton Tea Autumn Musk New 2020

About Castleton Tea Autumn Musk

Castleton Tea Garden, owned by the Goodricke Group Ltd., is considered top rated tea garden, the crème de la crème, of all Goodricke’s gardens. Planted by Dr. Charles Graham in the year 1885, Castleton is a historic Darjeeling tea garden, which spans its tea growing slopes across Kurseong, Pankhabari and the Hill Cart Road (road leading to the hot plains of Siliguri – 70-80 km away from Darjeeling). Most of the tea bushes in Castleton are pure china bushes which make excellent muscatel teas which Castleton is famous for. Only a few sections are dedicated to clonal tea bushes. This tea is prepared from excellent china bushes from their “Baseri (resting place)” tea growing section – a real treasure to be in the company of.

Most of china graded teas are smaller in size and this being a classic china graded Darjeeling, is no different. This Castleton Tea has an evenly sized tea leaves with a definite bloom bearing an attractive sheen on all. The sorting seems fine with very less of a stalk which is considered a common feature for all Darjeeling Autumnal ‘classic’ teas. It has a good “make”, well rolled and twisted. A well made tea with an overall leaf appearance of black and brown leaves accompanied by some greens. It has a pleasing bouquet of musk which is also sweet, honey like and slightly roasted, but pleasant and stimulating.

Castleton Tea wet leaves impart a coppery infusion with a mix of dark green tea leaves which blends beautifully with the rest. It has a pleasing sweet nose which depicts the freshness of the tea leaves. It has a thoroughly pronounced aroma which is muscatel like or rather fruity in nature, though calling it muscatel is not correct during the Autumn Flush when it is a dedicated characteristic of a Darjeeling Second Flush. But musky teas such as these do get manufactured during the Autumn Flush season, not the First Flush. It has an overwhelming fruity nose, somewhat plum oriented and nutty as the almonds.

An Autumnal classic Castleton tea cup in the pure sense with coppery liqor that is bright and somewhat having some thickness added to it. The cup is slightly astringent and steeping for about 2-3 minutes is recommended, longer steeping times can cause bitterness in the cup. The cup is full bodied and fills your mouth with desirable liquid thickness or fullness.It has rich briskness that tastes sweet, fruity and nutty. The muskiness can be felt.

A quality tea produced by the world famous Castleton Tea Garden. Thanks to Mr. D.B. Gurung, the tea maker at Castleton for saving us this tea. A classic graded tea, an example of fine plucking and manufacture. Taste this variety if you have already tasted others and know the difference or taste just taste to know its divinity.