What's your favorite Darjeeling?

The only Darjeeling I've ever had was Twinings, but I'm wondering, what are your favorite brands?

If you go to a good tea store, you can buy single estate darjeeling teas. I would recommend starting with a good second flush tea if you are used to tea bags (First flush is a milder taste). Some of my favourite Darjeeling estates are Margret's Hope and Makabari :)

I've tried a few other brands, including bag and loose varieties, but Twinings is still my favorite for Darjeeling. :)

I had some Twinings loose Darjeeling and was never much impressed with it, unfortunately...which surprised me because I'm not a picky tea drinker to begin with and Darjeeling is well known for being one of the most prized teas, so I expected it to be great! It's the only kind I've ever had as well, so I'm not sure if that means I don't like Darjeeling or simply that I don't like Twinings. I will have to try some of the others mentioned by Bcteagirl and see if those change my opinion :)

The Tao of Tea has a Darjeeling Muscatel that is quite nice.

Thanks for the suggestions! I wasn't wild about the Twinings Darjeeling myself, although it was okay with some milk, so I thought I'd try some other kinds to see if there's something better out there. It's possible I'm just not a Darjeeling fan, but as it is praised so much, I'd like to find out.

There's a heck of a lot of variation in Darjeelings. The single-estate tip is a good one to follow up on.

Water could be part of it too. Where I live, there is a bit of calcium in the water. Where I work, there is a lot. The same tea taste quite different at home and at work.

BTW Twinings Vintage Darjeeling leaves me cold either way, so a tea with no taste can't be saved by the water.

Darjeeling teas are wonderful teas...but favorite teas are always special to each individual. There is a Darjeeling green which is quite good, lacking some of the greenness green teas sometimes have. I enjoy a good Darjeeling, but my favorite black teas come from the Assam region of India. Right now I am enjoying a tea called Behora from that region, it marries wonderfully with milk if you enjoy tea with that addition! I've found loose leaf is best for fullness of flavor.

I like the title of this thread, because it is not just about picking a favorite tea, but a favorite Darjeeling. So one could have a favorite Assam, Nilgiri, Yunnan etc. No wonder my tea shelf is stacked with lots of teas. (But actually only one or two Darjeelings since they seem to evaporate very quickly.)

Single estate first flush darjeelings can be very expensive though - £10+ per 100g. They are normally picked in March so this years offerings won't be ready for a couple of months yet.

I do like the Margaret's Hope, which is one of the few names I can remember. I wasn't so taken by Gamjoolin?. I didn't get on so well with the green darjeelings. Somehow the speciality of the darjeeling doens't come through so well.

They can be very sensitive to the brewing, a delivate balance between getting enough flavour out, and becoming bitter.

Darjeeling and Assam are the best teas! Orange Pekoe (Darjeeling - Lopchu Brand) is awesome. The brewing time is about 10 minutes but the wait is worth the taste and aroma! Newby Assam tea is simply great.