“Can we add milk to Darjeeling Tea?”

A number of tea lover who have bought teas from us question about this. It’s a question arising not only from first time Darjeeling tea drinkers, but from seasoned and avid tea drinkers and blenders as well.

Did you know one tea fact about tea?

 Ninety-eight percentage of all tea drinkers drinks tea with milk in  their cup!

That is whooping number given the fact that 3 billion cups of tea are consumed daily. So the numbers in favour of drinking tea with milk is 2.94 billion who are drinking or will drink tea with milk today. The numbers scream against those dedicated tea lovers and tea bloggers who think otherwise, and subject those drinking with additives as of having undeveloped and inferior taste and senses. Thoughts are what we are made of, so let them enjoy their cup that way. It’s our business of things to see how we enjoy our cup of tea and life. (Certainly not by imitating others.)

That clears any positive or negative apprehensions based on tea drinking with milk.

Should you drink Darjeeling tea with milk?, or should milk be added to your tea like other teas, like the Indian Chai for instance which has milk and sugar as one of the essentials.

The answer to this question depends on a lot of factors, factors relating to tea, the characteristics and of course the taste & preference of the individual tea drinker.

Darjeeling produces three main flushes: the First Flush, produced in Spring, the Second Flush produced in Summer and the Autumn Flush. In between the second and autumn flush there is another flush called the Monsoon Flush the teas of which do not attract much market value in comparison to the other three flushes.

The first flush Darjeeling teas are mild in taste and have floral characteristics in that it is best advised to be had without milk. Sugar may be added to the tea of this flush but tea connoisseurs swear against it.

The second flush teas of Darjeeling are Muscatel in character and have  bolder, fuller bodied liquor in comparison to the Spring teas of Darjeeling. The taste are a bit more astringent and tend to be tannic on more than normal steeping time. Milk may be used with this tea to blend the darker liquor and diminish, if any, the astringent taste, but still Darjeeling teas are best had without milk and so are the teas from this flush.

Autumn Flush Darjeeling teas are much more bolder in liquor colour and the shades are more pronounced then the second flush teas of Darjeeling. Most tea lovers, who enjoy their teas with milk, swear by it. Reasons? Perhaps they tend to cut off any bitter taste associated with black teas or red teas (a good percentage from the tea drinking world tend to refer black teas from Darjeeling).

Reiterating, Darjeeling teas are best had without milk, the conclusion would be to each ones preference. If you love teas with milk, then so be it.

“The important thing is one should be able to enjoy them and experience the bliss with each sip: be it without milk or  sugar, or be it with sugar, or be it with both milk and sugar.”

So to sum up the points once again.

• Darjeeling Teas may be sipped with the addition of milk.

• Not all Darjeeling Teas are suitable for sipping with the addition of milk.

• The most favourable Darjeeling tea to be enjoyed with the addition of milk is the black tea from second flush crop and autumn flush crop.