Lochan Tea Samples -- part 1 of 4

First tasting session for the Lochan tea samples (11 in total)
This afternoon we have:
1: Lochan Muscatel Delight, 2nd Flush 2007 Darjeeling.
2: Makaibari Vintage Muscatel - Organic, 2nd Flush 2007 Darjeeling.Staged and ready for the plunge, so to speak.
Yesterday I took the opportunity to acquire additional tea paraphernalia to support this endeavor. (thx to Li Hong)
Tea-pot with integral infuser basket:..New tea; strainer and serving jug:.. Brewing will be a hybrid of; Gong fu and traditional British high tea (sans the scones and tea cozies).
Tea cups (cappuccino mugs from hotel - one must make do...)
Colour renditions, no guarantee of true representations.
The, Muscatel Delight was used to zero in the brewing parameters.
(Large sample quantity)
Quantities/units of measure/temp/time are either by eye or intuition. (Infusion times will be longer and water just a tad hotter than for Pu-erh.)

Dry leaf colour: – size and general appearance, remarkably similar.
Vintage M, slightly darker with less colours in the mix. The LMD a few additional leaves of a reddish hue.
Fragrance: LMD slightly more aromatic, a hint of fruitiness in the Vintage M.
NB: our olfactory sense has the strongest ties to memories, I just time traveled to past age in my Grannies home,.. Indian tea was always in abundance (locked in a Caddy..)

New toys cleaned and ready to go .. personal brewing parameters established.
Kettle to tea-pot pour: 25 secs. Slow pour worked well
Infusion time: 2:00 min.
Decant to serving jug: 15 secs.
2 scoops of dry tea … looked correct.
Wet tea filled infuser just right.
Pictures: most of the LMD, subtle differences to Vintage M, beyond my cell phone and available lighting. Beautiful colour:...Clean and Clear...

Vintage M. slighter deeper red... clean and clear ..LMD wet leaves:...LMD wet leaves: small even size, with hint of red.Comparative tasting: Both smooth and pleasant.
The Vintage M came through with a slightly deeper fruity taste with a wisp of spice. Both exhibited an immediate taste that persisted through the after taste phase.

Now a trip to the past .. Darjeeling WITH Milk, with interesting and unexpected results. Note: milk in Mainland Chin is less "potent" than milk in the US of A and light years behind British milk. With that said: ... fresh milk provided by the regency club .... Lochan Muscatel Delight, the milk enhanced, brought out more flavour ! very nice .... Makaibari Vintage Muscatel, the milk neutralized the flavour ? made it a flat nondescript hot liquid! Overall: both nice pleasant smooth teas, the Makaibari Vintage Muscatel having the edge with a deeper fruity-spice flavour. I plan on more Muscatel Delight (with milk) in the next few days to wash down a nice meal in the Copper Grill.