Darjeeling Tea Lingia FTGFOP1

Pekoe grading doesn't usually promise a rose garden in the cup, but that's the reputation attached to this Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 1 leaf. It's an orthodox black tea from the Lingia Estate, prized for a rose aroma found nowhere else on the surrounding hillsides, carried through into notes of orange and a thick, floral finish that has made its flavour appreciated well beyond Darjeeling. Lingia sits on the western edge of Darjeeling, roughly 30 kilometres from the Nepal border, with Chongtong to the north, Marybong to the east, and Mim and Tumsong rounding out the view to the south and southeast. The estate covers 220 hectares between 2,800 and 6,000 feet, though only 141 of those hectares are actually planted, all with the pure China cultivar that gives this grade its character. Tea has grown here longer than at most Darjeeling gardens: two German missionary brothers planted the first bushes on this land more than 150 years ago. The estate's name is thought to trace back to "Ling-ge," a reference to eight peaks visible from the property in a triangular arrangement, a name given by the Lepcha communities who lived on the land before the plantation existed. Ownership changed hands in 2001, when the Chamong Group bought the estate from Williamson Magor Company Ltd. To brew a cup, use a teaspoon of leaf per 200ml of freshly boiled water and let it sit for about six minutes before straining. An 8oz cup this way comes in at around 40mg of caffeine, mild for a black tea. Darjeeling teas like this one carry antioxidant compounds, including polyphenols and catechins, that have traditionally been associated with general wellbeing, though that's folk understanding rather than a documented effect of any particular cup.