Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
The crepy, bold OP leaves yield a medium-dark liquor. The cup has light cedar notes with a clean, crisp character. While this selection is well-suited for hot tea, it also makes an excellent iced beverage.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Craigmore Estate OP Nilgiri Black Tea from Upton Tea Imports is an excellent Nilgiri – it is everything I expect from a high-quality Nilgiri black: rich, sweet, a little bit malty, notes of earth and wood, with a refreshing, invigorating crispness.
The overall cup is robust yet smooth. My first time I brewed this tea, I measured out a little extra leaf, and I found that this not only resulted in an obviously stronger cup of tea, but also a slightly more astringent one than I cared for. The second time I brewed it, I remembered to be a little more careful about measuring and I found that the second pot was much smoother and more enjoyable.
This tea tends to have more of a woody tone to it rather than a fruity or floral character. Faint hints of fruit and flower can be detected if one slurps the tea to aerate it, and really focuses on the sip. But when casually sipping this tea, I notice more of the wood tones, and I find them quite enjoyable too. The sweetness is like burnt-sugar caramel which complements the malty tones nicely.
I enjoyed this served hot or iced – it’s especially nice iced, served with a thin slice of lemon. So refreshing!
Kenilworth Estate OP Black Ceylon Tea from Upton Tea Imports
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
This estate produces some of the best whole-leaf teas in Sri Lanka. For the Ceylon enthusiast. Drink with or without milk. A choice lot with a bold-leaf style. Steep for five to six minutes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Having had several very finely chopped CTC teas from Upton Tea Imports lately, I was happy to see the long, wiry leaves of this Kenilworth Estate OP Black Ceylon Tea from Upton Tea Imports. The dry leaf fragrance isn’t particularly noteworthy, it smells like black tea. The brewed tea aroma is sweet with notes that evoked thoughts of molasses, with hints of warm earth … a very inviting scent!
This tea has a nice, smooth, well-rounded flavor. It has a bold flavor for a Ceylon, although it certainly isn’t as hefty as an Assam would be. It does have a nice, caramel-y undertone that keeps me sipping. It has a smooth delivery from start to finish, with a light astringency toward the tail that is slightly dry and tangy.
Notes of fruit are abundant in each sip, although I don’t know that the fruit flavors are necessarily distinguishable. That is to say, it tastes like “fruit” but, it’s hard to say which fruit I’m actually tasting. I do taste a certain “citrus-y” note that comes through toward the finish, and this melds with the astringency to create that sort of citrus “tang” that is almost characteristic of a Ceylon tea.
There are also notes of earth and flower throughout the sip. This is a very pleasant cup of black tea … I don’t think I’d call it exceptional or anything like that, but, it has a very enjoyable flavor that would work as either a hot tea or an iced tea … would take the additions of milk and honey well if served hot … and would be nice served iced with thin slices of lemon or other citrus fruit.
Indian Spiced Chai from Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our version of Indian Spiced Chai Tea surpasses any other available. We blended our magical recipe of anise, cardamom, cloves, whole red peppercorn, ginger, vanilla and cinnamon together with our finest Ceylon OP to create this delightful Chai.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
Autumn has officially begun! Well, at least for me it has. I know that the official first day of autumn was a month ago, but, for me, it isn’t really autumn until I need to start putting on sweaters when I go outside. When it’s cold and wet and grey … when drinking a hot, spiced chai blend is so comforting!
This Indian Spiced Chai from Tealicious Tea Company is indeed comforting … and oh-so-good!
The spices are really delightful. They are warm and soothing. I like that the cinnamon and ginger do not seem to be overwhelming the flavors – I can taste each of the spices. The cloves are strong, the cardamom gives a warm, exotic note to the cup, and I can even taste a hint of snappy licorice from the anise and I’m really loving that. For those of you who tend to not like licorice flavor, don’t worry, the licorice-y note isn’t strong, and the anise really melds together nicely with the other spices to create a more unified flavor. It doesn’t really taste “licorice-y” … or even “cinnamon-y” or “clove-y” for that matter. It just tastes warmly spiced.
The vanilla is my favorite element of this chai. It adds a very pleasing creamy touch to the cup; eliminating the need to add milk. It tastes so sweet and creamy, almost latte-ish without the milk!
Which is good because the black tea base is a Ceylon tea, and it’s a fine black tea base but I think that this chai could definitely benefit from the bold, malty flavor of a rich Assam. The Ceylon tea is smooth and tasty in this blend, but it just feels and tastes a little weak. The background doesn’t seem as “solid” as I like from a chai. As a result, adding milk to this chai may end up muting the flavors more than enhancing them.
But as I said, adding milk really isn’t necessary, because the vanilla really gives this tea a deliciously sweet, creamy taste without the milk. This is really delicious served without milk, with only about a half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar to enhance the spices a little bit.
A really delightful cup of chai to help kick off the start of my favorite season of the year!
Ceylon Lovers Leap OP from Kally Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya region, February – March, 6000 to 8500 feet above sea level, cool nights, dry weather, sunny days, all combine to force the tea bush to expend its energies into the new growth giving the tea its best flavor. Lover’s Leap is named such as a traditional story that on this estate the tea is grown near a cliff that is said lovers threw themselves off the edge when they were not allowed to marry one another. We are confident that after enjoying the pleasures of this tea, such a drastic step would never enter your mind, quite the contrary… “Let’s brew another!”
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really like this Ceylon. It is rich and smooth and delicious.
It even has some malty tones to it. In fact, had I not brewed this myself and just been served it without being told what it was, I might have guessed it was an Assam. It has that rich, full-bodied taste I expect from an Assam, but without some of the harsher notes that I often experience with an Assam. It’s kind of like the best of both worlds in one teacup!
This would make a fantastic breakfast tea as it takes the additions of milk and honey (or other sweetener of your choice) well. It’s also quite delicious on its own – with no additions! It’s remarkably smooth. The aftertaste offers hints of fruit and a lovely sweetness.
Most Ceylon teas make a wonderful iced tea too, and this one is no exception! Try it with thin slices of lemon or lime (or both!)
Tiger Hill, OP from Praise Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Praise Tea
Company Description:
A likeable, medium-bodied tea good both with and without the addition of milk.
Taster’s Review:
Something very odd about this tea when I first began to brew it and with my first sips… it was very much like a Darjeeling! The tea leaf looks a bit like a Darjeeling, as does the brewed liquor, and the taste had a very Darjeeling-esque quality to it. I even noted a bit of muscatel in the flavor. The astringency was a bit lighter than in a typical Darjeeling, but, it was still quite similar to Darjeeling.
As the tea cooled slightly in my cup, I noticed that the tea began to take on more characteristics of a Nilgiri. It developed a bolder flavor, and that which I tasted as muscatel before became more of a citrus-y note in my cup. Like I said, it was very odd!
Anyways… my odd experience aside, this is a very enjoyable cup. It has a pleasant brisk flavor to it. The citrus-y notes give it a clean, bright flavor. As I mentioned previously, there is a light astringency to the cup which leaves my mouth feeling cleansed but it is not an overly drying sensation. A very smooth, robust tea.
This tea would be perfect as an afternoon tea or a lighter option for a morning tea. Although the company description suggests it with or without milk, I quite prefer this without milk. It also has a natural sweetness to it and doesn’t need sweetener.
A delicious, well-rounded tea!