Gopaldhara Red Thunder ruby and black autumn Darjeeling

Red Thunder Ruby left, black right

About winter / fall teas from Gopaldhara, not versions I've kept around for as long as some other recent "lost sample" posts, but definitely running one season behind since it's onto spring already, maybe just not time for Darjeeling first flush releases yet.  This is one of my overall favorite teas from Gopaldhara, and to me one of the best Darjeeling versions I've tried.  The review description sheds light on why, it just isn't really filled with subjective take input like that, more about aspects, so it really wouldn't come across. 

I think the other version is a black tea variation that may be experimental, or something they made for limited batch sales.  I didn't see it on their website.  Either one, since their original India version has been joined by one set up for foreign sales, listing Red Thunder here (assuming there is one main version that this is, which the "Ruby" designation potentially may not relate to):

Gopaldhara Red Thunder Oolong – Winter Frosted 2021

Gopaldhara Red Thunder is a limited edition Darjeeling Autumn Flush made from frosted leaves. This fine tea is made from clonal bushes and appears blackish red with abundant tips. The tea is made during the last week of October where the temperature starts approaching zero degrees at night, leading to the leaves getting frosted. Extreme cold weather conditions at high elevation induce a special and complex flavor into the tea. It is well oxidized while still retaining a prominent fruity flavor.

I'm usually a bit skeptical of teas being marketed as Indian oolong, since the versions never remind me of the rest of the range of teas presented that way, from lots of other countries, but this has a distinctive and different character.  Or I suppose autumn flush might tend to be like this, since I've not tried so many of those?  Anyway, it's really good and novel in type, and oxidized to a medium level, so oolong it is.

That tea lists for $10 for 100 grams; that seems really low to me.  I just mentioned a couple of teas from Nepal selling for $15 for 50 grams last post (the second used to benchmark value for the first), and for teas as good as Jun Chiyabari usually makes that seems fair.  I can't imagine those could be better than this though, just different in style, and it's listing for one third that rate.  Direct sales has the potential to relate to much better value than teas sold by a middleman or two in between, but often all kinds of vendors will build up demand and customer base by starting out with a low markup, and correct that later on.  I'm not necessarily saying that I expect this price to double over the next few years but that wouldn't be unusual. 

Review:

Red Thunder Ruby:  fantastic, of course, but the point here is to pin down in what sense.  Even for being slightly light due to being a quick first infusion this is great, complex, well-balanced, and pleasant.  Warm tones complement nice warm fruit range, complex enough that it's not just one thing.  Interpretations of dried black cherry and tamarind might make sense.  There's a bit of citrus edge but not so much, at least not yet.  The warm tones aren't as clearly defined and distinct, but it's pretty much in lighter black tea range, even though I think this gets described as an oolong.  

More oxidized oolong range always overlaps with less oxidized black tea range anyway, often accompanied by percentage amounts, like 80% oxidized, but it's hard to be sure that specific designation is meaningful.  A tea being just off fully oxidized does mean something specific, just maybe not narrowing that down to a percentage.

Black Red Thunder:  an early sourness throws off this coming across as positively, but it seems like the kind of flavor input that will "burn off" over the first round or two.  Warmth and sweetness matches the other for this, and there's probably some fruit range to it too, but for being light mostly that sour note comes across.  It seems a little like sour cherry for combining those ranges, maybe just pulled a little towards cocoa, as the other also was.  In going back and trying the other that warm range could be lots of different things, spice, or aromatic wood, but it's not as clearly centered on cocoa.  It will be interesting to see how both shift once they're really along the main infusion cycle next round.

Ruby Red Thunder, second infusion:  a little tartness picks up in this, giving it more of a berry character.  It's not sour cherry, but not so far off that.  It's nice how complex this is, how it packs in a lot of fruit range, with warmth complementing that.  I'm not sure the tartness is really an improvement, and trying to brew this on the lighter side may lighten the balance of that.  I was using about a 10-15 second infusion time, more towards 15, which doesn't sound like long but as usual I've maxed out the proportion.  

The warm tone is moving in an interesting direction, now heavier into spice, between cinnamon and warm tree bark range.  Cinnamon kind of is bark; I mean like a typical thick barked hardwood, but related to cured bark, a version that's been stored somewhat humid for awhile, perhaps laying in the woods.

Black:  the sourness did mostly drop out in this, with an unusual mineral range filling in.  It tastes a little like salt; it's odd that doesn't come up more.  It gives it an interesting sweet versus savory divide, like sweet and sour pork, or crispy pork (kind of Chinese / general Asian thing).  A rich fruit range develops, more like cherry than anything else.  It's cool that these have expressed so much range around the cherry theme so far, with the other venturing into other berry just now.  

The feel of this has a dry edge to it.  That's not really good or bad, a positive supporting input or something that detracts, just how it is.  If it was stronger it would be negative, and I suppose rich and full without dryness might be slightly better, but it's fine, it's nice.  

Red Thunder Ruby, third infusion:  a little extra light, but it's nice "seeing it" from different infusion strength perspectives to get a feel for how the experienced aspects range can vary.  That one catchy set of fruit and warm tones still stands out, with feel relatively positive, with some richness and fullness but no real edge of any kind.  There is no sourness or tartness in it prepared this way.  Complexity stands out most, how there's a lot going on.  The fruit and warm tone ranges aren't just one thing, as I've described, both really coming across as a set of flavors.  That spice / bark tone starts to transition more to aromatic, warm wood tone, or that could just be an effect from shifting infusion strength.

Red Thunder Black:  the best this has been, even though this is a little light (how it's prepared).  That unusual mineral range is cool.  It doesn't come across as much as salt this round, but it's definitely a main part of the experience.  It leans a little towards that inky mineral effect that can be present in roasted Wuyi Yancha versions, which really does taste a bit like ink smells.  A more conventional interpretation would discuss wood tones or fruit more, since those are easier to notice, but the mineral range stands out (to me) for being novel, and contributing a lot to the overall effect.  Fruit range never did dial up quite as much as in the other version.

I'll be traveling today so I'll probably do one more round with note taking and then drop this, probably not getting back to adding more about the later rounds.  Both will keep shifting and developing, and both are pretty far from finished, as I've prepared them.  Drinking two teas worth of 8 or 9 rounds in a hurry is too much; made this way it's too much for someone to drink straight through.  

I never really factor in context like that when starting, in part due to not being all that clear-minded in the morning to factor in anything.  It's 9:30 AM now and already hot out, and I started this back more towards 9, a more proper time for getting out of bed on a Saturday.  A single Tim Horton's maple cream filled donut is offsetting the impact of all this tannin in my stomach; so far so good, but it's at its limit.

Ruby Red Thunder:  really nice, very well balanced, but I don't have much to add about changes.  If anything it all just evened out nicely, with fruit and warm tones, and rich feel, all coming together in their proper places.  I would accept this as a nice black tea version, the feel is just a bit softer, rich instead of having any astringency edge at all.  It can be considered an oolong then, it's just not like any form of Chinese oolong, as close as any to a Taiwanese rolled ball form "red oolong," kind of an unusual sub-category.  

The richness in this is a bit like that warm tone in a cinnamon roll, not just the cinnamon part, which is present, but also that nice cooked sugar range, and warm pastry effect.  Don Mei would go crazy listing flavors for this; it would contain 20.  It comes across as complex but integrated, and in a unique sense as simple.  It's good.

Red Thunder Black:  a lot of that general commentary applies to this too; it's integrating nicely.  The warm tones definitely include a bit of a cured wood effect now, which works with the rest.  Mineral has backed off a little, letting that part and fruit show through.  Either of these could be interpreted as more into citrus range than I've described, maybe with a hint of sweet red grapefruit in this overall effect.  Both are complex enough that a lot of different interpretations could make sense.  These reviews are more about describing an overall effect built up through describing how details add up, but not as one objectively correct interpretation.  Seeing these flavors as being something else would be natural, and not necessarily less accurate.  

All in all this is pretty good too.  I liked the other better, for really nailing a unique balance, more the version I expect from past experiences (not that I can memorize a tea so well from one year to the next, or across two).  I thought this would contain more edge for being identified as a black but it really didn't include much more for astringency / structure than the other, with that early dryness dropping out a round ago.  The oxidation level difference is almost clearer in the wet leaf color than the character, since they're just different, not necessarily with this just like conventional black tea and the other not.

Conclusions:

Not much to add really; both were nice, but to me the Ruby version really stood out.  Expectation could've factored in, it being more what I thought I would experience, or what I had learned to appreciate in the past.

I often find myself saying that I like teas or that they're good in posts, since I wouldn't usually review a tea that I don't like, which is a less interesting story to tell.  It's hard to put that on a scale.  Gopaldhara tea range is really novel, up there with the absolute best I've tried from India, and this version is one of my favorites from them.  It's on the exceptional side of "good."  

I like their lighter intense fruit and floral range teas too, when versions really click, but this one also has consistency on its side, that it's always this good, and seemingly always in a similar character range.  That impressive, given that they need to work around how much the weather cooperates in making teas.

back from that travel I mentioned, which included snorkeling in the Gulf of Thailand

there were no other people or boats anywhere near us that day, kind of crazy

Gopaldhara Red Thunder Gold, autumn harvest Darjeeling

Red Thunder Gold, nice looking tea

This is the autumn harvest version of the other "Gold" teas I'd reviewed before, with the first flush review here and second flush here.  Those were Chinese cultivar versions of Darjeeling, AV2 clonal / plant type based teas, as this version is, with vendor information here.  I never did write a research post on cultivars for Darjeeling, in spite of finding a really good reference that spelled out some details (this one: Genetic diversity and relationships among tea (Camellia sinensis) culivars...; per usual for academic papers with some interesting details but not a light read).


The last Red Thunder--a similar tea made from a different plant type--was great tea; soft, fruity, earthy, and balanced, full and bright--one of those teas where it all comes together.  So I'm really looking forward to this one.

the other Red Thunder; some resemblance in the teas

Review

Some initial context:  I'll brew this tea Western style for this review.  It would work just fine Gongfu style, and it might be possible to review transitions (changes across infusions) better that way, but per past experience results would be similar for both.  A lot of teas work better brewed one way or the other, more typically better for Gongfu style, but black teas in general don't vary as much.  I might also mention that I don't use a "straight" Western brewing approach, typically, not a "one teaspoon per cup" formula, shifting that towards the much higher tea proportion used in Gongfu brewing, but still on the "Western" side of that range.

The smell of the dry tea is really nice, full, sweet, and fruity.  It would be possible to spend lots of time sniffing the tea and write a review of just the dry tea smell, but of course I won't.  Fruit scents are rich, towards raisin and grape, and a little citrus, with a touch of molasses rounding out sweetness and adding some earth tone.

The brewed tea is quite nice too, a very soft, rich tea.  I think it will pick up depth and complexity across another infusion--this was light,  a bit fast, just to get it going--but it's interesting seeing (tasting) the previous version "Gold" characteristics already playing out differently in an autumn tea.  It's smooth, "roundish," and a bit towards floral as Darjeeling range tends to go.  The other Red Thunder was soft and well balanced but this is almost so soft it's in the oolong range instead of black tea range, quite smooth.  But it's nothing like an oolong, related to profile, just novel as black teas go.




The tea flavors are bright, clean, and well balanced.  There is so much complexity that one could tease out a good list of distinct aspects.  There is one that stands out, which I'm having trouble pinning down with a description, but it really could be a set of flavors instead.  I'll go a little heavier next infusion and try to spell it out.


The flavors and the way it balances is even nicer the second infusion.  A trace of black tea astringency picks up, still keeping this in a very soft range, just adding body.  It's not as "structured" as the other Red Thunder came across but it has a soft black tea feel to it.   A trace of dryness balances the rest well.



I'm still not "getting" that one characteristic element, still not really able to say exactly what it is.  A decent guess is that it's just a floral tone.  On the richer side rose petals matches a trace it, but there is more to it.  Part is a bright, roundish tone, sort of like chrysanthemum.  It's that part that shifts it a little towards candy-like sweetness.  Or pandan leaf could be a better description, although that might not be familiar to many, a sweet tropical leaf type used for food seasoning, more or less in between fruity and floral, pretty close to Fruit Loops cereal.  There is more conventional cooked yam / sweet potato range as well, perhaps more common to Chinese black tea versions than Darjeelings.


Taken alone those aspects described are complex but wouldn't make for a balanced tea, but there is other range that integrates well and brings across a fuller experience.  Minerals underlie that taste, back to the spring water scent perhaps even more pronounced in the Red Thunder tea.  You might be thinking that spring water never tastes like all that much (except maybe in comparison tasting).  I really mean it's more the scent of the spring itself, that of water rushing out of the ground in a mountain spring, a nice scent, which smells more of minerals due to those collecting there.

black tea, with oxidation backed off just a little

Another infusion shifts towards earthier range, and mineral picks up a little, with floral aspects toning down a bit.  It's even better.  One aspect is that trace of malt that lots of people might describe as "tastes like tea," just not coupled with a bite of astringency as in some black teas, the "briskness."  The feel is interesting, not quite as full and stout as the other Red Thunder, but it balances well.  It's still a little softer and lighter than even a better Dian Hong might be (Yunnan black tea), but not so far off the aspects range.

On the whole it's nice.  It seems to me the kind of tea a dedicated oolong drinker might really connect with, even though it's not that.  The oxidation level may not be so far above the range where the categories switch over.  Later I did get back to a side by side tasting comparison of those two Red Thunder versions, but I'll do an aside related to what the tea is before getting to that second tasting.

Vendor input on the teas

Let's start with the "Gold" version brewing instructions:

Right!  Below boiling point is better, as I'd used, although it wouldn't have hurt to check that advice before the tasting.  It works well to go heavy on the tea proportion too, to double that loose tea amount and brew four infusions instead.  I would go a bit lighter for the first, and the fourth might drop off a little, and would require a longer brewing time.  Or better yet try different approaches and decide for yourself.

I'm all about people brewing and preparing tea however they like but I wouldn't want to even think about someone adding milk to this tea.  It probably would make a great iced tea, mixed with milk and sugar and poured over ice, but that's madness, a complete waste of this level of tea.

More on the Red Thunder Gold version description:

I talked a little with the plantation director about how these two teas could possess that unusual balance of great flavors complexity with astringency being so limited, with no edge or bite, just a nice structure.  He said it had to do with the elevation of the tea (high), the effect of cool fall weather on the plants, and the input related to plant types.  Correct processing surely also played a role.  In other words, all the basic factors came together nicely.

Comparison tasting, Red Thunder versus Red Thunder Gold

Red Thunder left, Gold version right

I tried the Red Thunder with a cold, and didn't feel as though I'd filled in the whole list of aspects for the Red Thunder Gold, so I re-tasted both together.  This time I used a Gongfu approach, not really so different for this tea type versus Western brewing, but it works well for comparison tasting.  The two teas share some common ground for aspects and tastes range, and some differences.

They both share an earthy, mineral intensive range, a taste that makes perfect sense associated with fall, cooler weather.  The Gold version adds a light, sweet note on top of that, one I was saying was close to floral in the last tasting.  It wouldn't be wrong for someone to express it as fruit instead, to say it's like cooked yam, with a bit of raisin, some citrus, maybe even hinting towards nectarine.  But it seems a touch of rich floral tone mixes in, which I focused on describing that in the first tasting since it seemed so novel.  The other Red Thunder has that earthy and mineral base, just extending a bit further, with a bit of extra body and touch of dryness to it.  The flavor extends to be a little deeper rather than brighter, including a touch of sun dried tomato.

On the next infusion--third or fourth; the time flies--the Gold version moves a little into a nice sweet bark spice range.  Cinnamon is the best known bark spice but there are others, and this is not really familiar, maybe exactly like an existing bark spice or maybe not.


I should remember more about trying unusual tisanes over that long spell of interest, drinking those for 20 years before I even started into tea (along with wine and coffee, in stages--crazy times).  In place of referencing that better here is a nice comprehensive reference on medicinal herb uses, not so much on what they taste like though, but it goes into what's out there for tisanes.  Not that I'm recommending that, use as supplements, but the listings are interesting.  Especially the description there for pine needles, a subject that came up in researching Christmas tea blends, but one I didn't mentioned in a post yet.

Christmas season in Bangkok, a few days ago

The other Red Thunder--not "Gold"--stays the same, with that nice sweetness, full structure, and limited astringency working well with the really complex taste range.  They're so complex that varying lists of flavors could be used to describe both without any necessarily being completely wrong.  On the next infusion it seems the Red Thunder did drift into a little of that same bark spice range.

I seem to be focusing on describing differences but falling short on spelling out the underlying profile for these, what they have in common.  It's complex, balanced for both, with common range in wood tones with underlying mineral, a general fall-flavors theme.  Extending from that the Gold version reminds me of a toasted cinnamon roll with raisin, a version of which we knew as "sticky buns" back at Penn State.  There is an element in common with toasted pastry but it's not yeasty.  Both teas are leveling out a little, 8 or 9 infusions in, but not giving out or going off in any way, more just thinning out.

I do tend to step back from offering my own opinion to some extent, objectively describing aspects and all that (or so it seems to me), but these are definitely some of the best Darjeelings I've ever tried.  These black teas compare well against any I've tried from anywhere.

Gopaldhara Red Thunder, autumn flush black Darjeeling

Following up on reviewing some nice first and second flush teas from Gopaldhara earlier, they passed on a few more samples of their Darjeeling autumn flush.


I read a mainstream article on that general type not so long ago that peaked my interest, NPR's Autumn Flush: The Best Darjeeling Tea You'll (Likely Never) Taste.  The idea was that less of this harvest category is produced, so it's harder to find.  For readers outside the US, that's National Public Radio, a resource for news and talk radio, perhaps better known for making airwave broadcast classical music available throughout the US.  Here's what they said:


Autumn flush — the last of the year — begins by the end of October, once the monsoon has withdrawn from the misty hills, the rains tapered off, and the temperatures begun to drop. The tea bushes reduce their output as they move toward hibernation. It is the shortest of the harvests, and lasts just 30 or so days.

"The liquor has a delicate yet sparkling character with a delightful flavor, distinct from both first flush and second flush with a round cup," says B.N. Mudgal, who managed for last few decades Jungpana, one of Darjeeling's most storied gardens...

Less floral and delicate than the opening flushes, autumn flavors tend to be more deeply fruity, with notes of ripe grapes and berries...   Or, as Rishi Saria, of the high-elevation Gopaldhara Tea Estate, says, "a robust cup and solid cup."


Sounds great.  Of course I've tried versions but it's easy to lose track over time, and a really good example of a tea type can make for a much different experience than one that's just roughly typical.  The Gopaldhara site describes this version as follows:


The tea is made from clonal bushes and looks blackish-red with abundant tips. It brews into a bright orange cup with excellent muscatel flavour with rich dense notes of ripe fruits. The tea gives a sweet flavour but without any astringency. The aftertaste is well-defined and long lasting and exquisite.

it smells as nice as it looks

Review section:

The dry tea scent reminds me of first discovering nicer Darjeelings some years ago, that initial amazement that a tea could have such a fruity and rich smell and taste.

The flavor profile includes plenty of fruit, in warm, soft, earthy and mineral context, very approachable and well balanced.  I'm at the tail end of having a cold and I can notice that I'm not picking up the same level of all of the aspects even as I'm tasting them.



It will be nice to give this a second tasting with follow-up notes and see how much I missed.  At least I can appreciate all the more that this tea is pleasantness and comfort distilled into a hot beverage.  It's great that the astringency is so limited there isn't that factor to brew around.  I prepared it a little stronger than I may have without a cold to help it "get through" to my muted palate, and it would still work well across a range different infusion strengths.



Flavors are interesting, difficult to completely unpack; there's a lot of complexity integrated into a continuous, balanced range.  Muscatel is one aspect, just not as pronounced as it would typically be for a second flush tea (the harvest prior to this one).  Earthiness is the next most prominent flavor range, at this stage in the brewing, a very interesting presentation of it.  It really seems to be in between a mineral-oriented earthiness and mineral, between dark wood, red sandstone, and a mild and sweet form of mineral tone.  The empty cup smells of a rich, dark honey sweetness.

On the next infusion the mineral and fruit pick up just a little, still so nice.  The mineral tone seems related to an aspect of the feel of the tea, as a mild astringency centered on your tongue that moves to the back and sides as an aftertaste.  It's not a roughness or bite, instead a pleasant level of body or structure, a fullness.


The sweetness and general feel are great, well balanced, soft as many black teas go but with a nice texture to it.  There is enough flavor complexity that someone with a good imagination could describe a long list of what is really there, expressing more about fruit, and pinning down that mineral and earth further.  The fruit aspect is warm and rich, in the range of roasted sweet potatoes.

Thai pumpkin on the left (no Japanese shown; this is in rural Thailand)

A word on pairing for this tasting, which I typically don't address:  I'm having the tea with breakfast, with a nice pumpkin pie I cooked from scratch.  Thai pumpkin is more like varieties of squash sold in the US (although pumpkin technically is a squash, per my understanding).  Japanese pumpkin--what this pie is made from--is sweeter and more orange, with a softer, smoother skin that works well for cooking.  The skin is very nice broiled in a toaster oven seasoned with a yellow curry.

her verdict:  yummy!

This tea is perfect for pairing with warm, complex fall and winter foods.  It would work well served only with bit of gingerbread, but it would stand alongside an American holiday meal just fine.  It's light and bright enough to wash your palate clean between one rich or sweet side dish and another, and it contributes it's own complexity and a different kind of flavors depth.


On the next infusion I'm noticing a nice drift into spice aspects, picking up both cinnamon and nutmeg, really a broad range.  The flavors are still clean, the general effect still bright, the feel mostly unchanged.  I might mention I'm not really brewing the tea Gongfu style, more adjusting Western brewing back a bit towards a higher proportion with slightly shorter times.  That's kind of a general preference of mine for teas that works well with, best for black teas.  It can still work well for white and green types, with some oolongs typically turning out better using a traditional Gongfu approach (Dan Cong in particular is touchy about that).


Even on the next infusion, brewing the tea out a bit, it's still nice, a good sign.  The tea thins a little, and the background astringency and feel changes due to longer brewing times.  The flavor moves from fruit and spice to more mineral, a normal transition, but it's still great as it brews through all the transitions, a nice characteristic of better teas.

Follow-up

I think that review did capture the essence of this tea, but I have more of the sample left to compare it to another version when I get to those.  Comparing closely related teas makes it easier to sort out minor variations in aspects, and I'll probably add a description or two to the flavors list of this one trying it once completely over that cold.  I suspect I failed to note an underlying layer, perhaps cocoa or the like, and probably at least one trace of fruit.

this smelled like snow, that day, but different in summer

It reminded me of a subject I'd recently mentioned, about growing up in rural Pennsylvania (a US state), and being exposed to a range of fascinating smells in those woods.  Oil well equipment in particular has a nice scent.  An old, broken oil barrel may still retain a rich, earthy scent, combining oil and slowly fermenting wood.  Old pipelines smell of iron-based metals, aging over decades to return to the earth that they were once a part of.


This tea isn't a close match for either of those but it definitely shares some range.  The mineral nature does remind me of an old open water well, drawing up an interesting range of minerals from deep in the ground, slowly flowing due to natural pressure.  Those minerals serve as natural multi-vitamins for deer, who stop by for sips.


This was definitely a well balanced, complex, pleasant tea.  The first and second flush teas are nice in their own way but this version really did work well according to my preferences, one of the nicest Darjeelings I've tried.  That article was right; it would be a shame to miss the experience.