A light "black" Darjeeling tea, first flush 2023 from the early days of this year harvest in India. A very high grade of fresh organic Darjeeling tea on its lighter side, with bright hues, muscatel grapes aroma, and a smooth, creamy texture. Sorted as whole leaf grade to our specifications, making it suitable for Chinese Gong Fu Cha brewing.
 
Aside from the mistaken classification of Darjeeling tea as black tea, there is nothing dark about this tea, the contrary. In fact, the oxidation process of this luxurious and specific batch lasts only about 12 minutes. Given it's an early harvest of a pair of young small leaves and a closed bud, it's actually more of a hybrid tea closer to the green tea process. This is the secret behind the complexity and delicate tones of the early harvest Darjeeling tea when done correctly. The gentle rolling of the leaves and the cold climate at the foothills of the Himalayas, where the Okayti estate lies in the Mirik valley on the Nepalese border, also contribute to the unique, mineral, velvety character of this tea.
 
After maturing in our storage for about two months under optimal conditions, the tea reaches its maturity peak for a relatively short period - during the summer and fall of 2023. Afterwards, the tea will continue to slowly oxidize and mellow, and its character will change. Anyone interested in experiencing the evolution of quality Darjeeling tea, we recommend enjoying this particular tea in this time frame and continue tasting it throughout the year.
 
Do not confuse it with other grades of tea bearing the same name. "Moonshine" is a stage name for different versions of tea from the Okayti estate, not only the harvest time and leaf size classification differ, sometimes also the blend of clones. The entire stock of our Moonlight version weighs only 15kg, out of hundreds of kilograms of various Moonshines out there.