You may hear the term ‘muscatel’ when complimenting tea.
So what does muscatel mean? Now here is a question.
1. do you feel the muscatel flavour in the first flush?
2. is Muscatel derived from the grape Muscat?
The correct answer is no to both. It is sometimes mistakenly believed to be derived from the grape Muscat, hence the comment that even the first flush has a Muscatel feel. There is also this misuse in the English-speaking world, where some teas are written as Muscatel due to the grape. The exact meaning is Musk, which is derived from the animal odour of wet animal or tanned leather. This musk, in small quantities, becomes a very seductive fragrance.
Very few teas have a muskiness to them, and only a handful of the 87 Darjeeling tea estates can be counted on ten fingers. Darjeeling produces less than 1% of India’s total production, of which only the second flush, and even then the aroma can only be found in a limited number of tea estates. How much would that be in percentage terms? Musk tea is so rare that any black tea is sold with the word “musk” attached to it. In search of the real ‘musk’… We are very happy when we come across it.