This tea is made solely from a rare breed of clonal called AV2.
The first pick of AV2 is very limited in quantity in Darjeeling, which is why Diamond is so expensive. Diamond is characterized by silky smooth and soft water quality with a very long-lasting finishing. When you sip it, you will feel a deep aftertaste flows deep down the throat.
The tea has multi-layer of floral notes, with fresh and sweet fruity aroma reminiscent of grapes and berries.
Thanks to natural farming style, tea grows slowly and it is rich in minerals, and tea can be brewed over and over again.
This tea is grown in sustainable style: the gardens are maintained in natural farming style, and the tea trees are grown by limiting the use of fertilizers. The tea gardens are close to the condition of nature.
Unlike the common Darjeeling tea, these teas grow slowly, and the tea leaves have a high cell density and it is rich in minerals and tea substances, so it gives a long-lasting taste with deep finishing, and tea can be brewed many times like those natural farming pu-erh teas and white teas.
A lot of people tend to think that the tea flavor is the best when tea is freshly produced. It is absolutely true if tea is kept with oxygen (means that tea is packed without removing the oxygen from the package before sealing the package).
However, the flavor of semi-fermented/fermented tea becomes stronger and more gorgeous when it is aged without oxygen. So, HOJO basically does not sell it immediately after receiving it. Instead, we re-packed the teas in oxygen-free packaging and kept it in Malaysia.
For these spring teas, after keeping it in oxygen-free packaging for nearly a year, the aroma components have matured, and the flavour and sweetness in taste have increased.
Aged tea has a weak aroma immediately after opening
Tea that has been kept without oxygen for a while normally is mild in flavor when the bag of tea is just open. It does not have strong aroma immediately after opening.
Just like decanting wine, tea will emit more up-lifting flavor when it is lightly oxidized with air.
Normally, after opening the bag of tea, the tea flavor becomes stronger after 2-3 days. The flavor intensity increases a lot and the sweetness increases too. Tea taste becomes smoother with more lingering finishing.