Darjeeling

So I may have mentioned this already but I wanted to post this, almost as a note to myself. Darjeeling is a region where tea is grown, I think... Yeah, could check for sure but whatever. Anyway, Darjeeling tea is widely varied in terms of how oxidised it can be and how it is drunk and how it tastes. I believe Darjeeling is the one  nicknamed the 'champagne of teas'. It has a clear bodied, raisinish or pruneish taste when I drink it black. But I was not aware until last year that you can drink it green or at least more like oolong, half oxidised instead of fully black. In terms of blackness and oxidization, the tea spectrum goes ; puerh (aged black), black, oolong, green, yellow and white. White being the least 'baked' I guess you could say. This again, is just how I think it is. I am not an expert although if I ever stop being lazy and cheap, maybe I will spend my life becoming a tea sommelier... Maybe. So expensive...  But I digress. As usual. So as I was describing, I tried a blend of Darjeeling, Ceylon (aka Sri Lankan) and Assam tea from the Isetan Dept. store in Tokyo's Shinjuku District. I am not boasting. It was a nice store. But a fancy dept. store, let's just say every country has one and they are all the same. Anyway it had a nice tea selection but T2, the Aussie tea chain, has better imho. Anyway this blend surprised me. The leaves were fairly large and some were greener and others were darker. I tasted it and to my surprise there was a peach-like flavour. I added milk because it was also a wee bit astringent. I like my flavours softer, less edgy. So then I remembered, my coworker from India (actually Nepal, long story that I don't really know) gave me a small amount of her precious Darjeeling from home. It was markedly different to the stuff I can buy in regular New Zealand shops. It was greener and it tasted milder. Frankly, I prefer it. Go, India! You keep at it. And I will be prowling the Indian shops in my city when I return to NZ. Vastly different green to Japanese green. Japanese green is more fullbodied and grassy, prone to bitterness. Darjeeling green is smoother and lighter in taste, and more fruity. But I still like both. I never have a real fave except for Assam of course.