Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: P.M.David Silva & Sons
Tea Description:
Fresh, sweet and reinvigorating our Planters’ Green Tea is hand crafted on a single estate. The unique climate and soil conditions coupled with ozone friendly planting practices ensure that this tea leaves the palate fresh and clean. Best of all it is a fantastic aid for the health conscious; moreover, it’s the perfect beverage for the Green Tea Connoisseur.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ll admit it . . . I’m a green tea junkie. I love it. I love the crispness you can pull out of green teas that I don’t always get from other types of teas. Green tea has a fresh tasting quality that I adore and a buttery richness/smoothness that my taste buds crave. I gotta say, Planters’ Green hit all of those notes and more! I am a fan!
The tea can be bought in pyramid bags or loose leaf. I had the bagged version, which is fantastic for work. Once I got to work, I headed to the break room, poured some water from the coffee machine into my mug, tossed the bag in, and began checking emails. Somehow I wound up getting lost in my daily routine and completely forgot I had started preparing my morning cup. Worried that I had oversteeped and there would be a bitter brew awaiting me, I cringed as I took my fist sip.
The description of the tea says it will leave your palate fresh and clean and that is exactly what happened. They definitely deliver upon that promise. There was absolutely no bitterness whatsoever (even after getting distracted) just that rich clean flavor that I have come to love about green teas. Some green teas also have a vegetal or grassy flavor profile. This one doesn’t have that but leans more towards having a really subtle flavor profile. I can see this being a fantastic tea to have after a large meal.
I can see this being a great to go tea. The one that you know will be forgiving . . . even after you forget about it and go along with your day . . . its a winner in my book!
Silver Tip White Tea from P.M.David Silva & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: PMD (P.M.David Silva & Sons)
Tea Description:
Silver Tips has long been the preserve of Kings and connoisseurs. This exclusive white tea follows a truly unique production process. Before sunrise, specialist tea pluckers select the most tender buds of only the finest tea bushes. It is essential that the master tea maker uses all his expertise, patience and effort to transform the buds into Silver Tips – it takes 5 kilos of buds to produce 1 kilo of Silver Tips.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
These leaves are absolutely gorgeous! They’re pale green and the edges are silvery. The leaves are soft to the touch and I can feel the fluffy down-like particles on the leaves. The aroma is delicate and lightly vegetal, reminiscent of hay.
And the flavor is delightful. So sweet! Smooth, light and refreshing! Even when served hot, I can feel it cool me, which is greatly appreciated on this hot summer day. It is very soothing and calming to sip. This is the kind of tea I want to reach for on one of those days when things just aren’t going my way. This tea will turn everything around!
The sweetness is almost like raw cane sugar! There are notes of melon and the softest hint of sweet apple. A light vegetal taste – but oh so subtle! It is barely there and hard to pick up on unless I slurp the sip to aerate it.
It’s a very refreshing beverage. I feel it relax me as I drink it.
To brew this tea, I approached it the way I approach most white teas. I use a low temperature (170°F) and steep it for 4 minutes. This produces a very enjoyable flavor that is delicate and delicious. But don’t mistake the word “delicate” for lacking in flavor, because this certainly does not lack in flavor. There is a whole lot of flavor in this cup!
This is a superb Silver Tip (aka Silver Needle) tea, and I’m not at all surprised that it came from P.M.David Silva & Sons because so far, I’ve been blown away with the quality that I’ve tasted from this company. I highly recommend checking them out!
New Vithanakande Black Tea from P.M.David Silva & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: PMD (P.M.David Silva & Sons)
Tea Description:
Perched over a hill overlooking an untouched rain forest, New Vithanakande Estate produces the islands most cherished low grown tea. The Guild of Fine Food were adored the unique complexity of New Vithankande and awarded it a Gold Great Taste Award in 2012. Nature heavily influences the tea produced at New Vithankande. Parochial winds sweep through the rainforest adjacent to the estate and when they arrive, they infuse the tea with forest fruit flavours.
The tea is leafy and has a glorious black sheen since the soil is abnormally high in nutrients. When infused, New Vithanakande has a complex caramel flavour and has hints of forest fruits; a tea truly blessed by nature.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm … yummy! This tea is delicious. Just as the description above suggests, this tea has a complex caramel flavor and hints of fruit. It’s strange that no matter how many different teas I try with similar characteristics (like caramel notes, for example), that even though I’ve tried so many teas with notes like this … I’m still blown away by just deliciously caramel-y a tea can be without any flavoring other than what nature and it’s oxidation process has instilled into the leaf.
And this has a really rich caramel note to it: almost creamy! There are notes of malt to this as well as a pleasant fruity note that is reminiscent of sweet berries without the tartness that accompanies the berry. This tea is all about the sweet! I’m also picking up on some notes of raw cacao and a hint of earthiness.
It has a robust quality to it: it is rich and full-bodied, with a bold character. It’s one of those teas that would be hefty enough to serve for a breakfast tea (and would probably take the addition of milk and honey well, although I didn’t try it like that, I found it to be amazing served straight up.) But it has a really luscious flavor to it that it would also make a great tea to serve with dessert!
I have been very impressed with the teas that I’ve tried from PMDavid Silva & Sons – this is a company that I feel very comfortable recommending highly to all my readers!
Lovers’ Leap Tea Estate Black Tea from P.M.David Silva & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: PMD (P.M.David Silva & Sons)
Tea Description:
Sitting proudly above the town of Nuwara Eliya, Lovers’ Leap Estate is steeped in tradition and legend. The Nuwara Eliya district is famed for producing the “champagne of Ceylon teas” and is often mistaken for the British countryside with its red post boxes and colonial bungalows. The estate bears the name from the tragic tale of a young couple that leapt of a waterfall on the estate. Moreover, it was the only tea to be served at the HM Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee in 2012 – a tea for those who enjoy the finer things in life!
Lovers’ Leap teas are reputed for their delicate and elegant characteristics. The estate is home not only to tea, moreover, the abundance of eucalyptus, cypress trees and wild mint bushes give the air a pleasant mentholated fragrance. The tea absorbs the fragrances and when infused it bears a remarkable golden, light green infusion. The flavours are bright, crisp and clean – the pleasant mentholated undertones will leave your taste buds tingling! We recommend Lovers’ Leap to be taken without milk or alternatively with a slice of lemon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know that I’ve tried Lovers’ Leap estate teas before, but, I can’t recall ever trying one quite like this one. The description states that this is a Ceylon, and the leaves look like Ceylon to me. But the color of the brewed tea and the crisp, light flavor is almost Darjeeling-esque to me. It’s like a beautiful marriage of the two tea types.
As I said, it’s light and crisp … almost effervescent in flavor. There is something very uplifting about the flavor of this tea. It is sweet, and I taste the notes of eucalyptus and cypress trees that surround the Lover’s Leap estate, as well as the wild mint! These aren’t strong flavor profiles in this cup, but they are definitely present in the many layers of this complex cuppa.
I am really enjoying the different flavors this tea has to offer within it’s layers. Notes of menthol, woodsy notes, grape-like tones, light notes of citrus and sweet whispers of flower are just some of the flavors I’m experiencing here.
The sip starts out with a crisp note. I can taste the notes of wood and flower right at the start. As the sip develops, I notice the mint-like notes – very clean and cool! – and then I taste notes of grape. Toward the end of the sip, there is a brightness to the cup, it’s almost citrus-y and this is noticeable especially toward the finish. These citrus-y flavors linger in the aftertaste. It’s not an overly astringent brew, but I’m experiencing some puckering of the inside of my cheeks toward the finish. If I inhale after the sip is finished, the air that floats over my palate delivers a light mint-y note.
If I were to choose a season to compare this tea to, I’d choose summer, because it has a sunny flavor, reminiscent of a warm day with a gentle breeze blowing through the countryside. The air is clean and invigorating with notes of the trees, flowers and some of the herbaceous tones that surround you.
This is not a tea that I’d choose for a breakfast or early morning tea, mostly because those earliest cups of tea I want to be more hefty and substantial. This would make a stunning afternoon cup, though, and one that I’d serve to guests, because it makes a very impressive beverage.
A bright and beautiful cup of tea! I’m becoming more impressed with the quality of teas that I’m trying from this company – PMDavid Silva & Sons – the more I taste from them, the more I like them!
Craighead Single Estate Black Tea from P.M.David Silva & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: PMD (P.M.David Silva & Sons)
Tea Description:
Craighead Estate is stationed 1,100 metres above sea level in the picturesque Gampola valley within the Kandy district. The Kandy district saw the success of the first commercially planted tea in Sri Lanka. This triumph led to the conception of the Ceylon Tea industry and in due course the establishment of Craighead Estate..
The combination of the western quality season and the skills of the resident tea maker create a truly regal mid-grown tea. Craighead possesses intense malty characteristics whilst embodying a brisk finish. It is ideally drunk with milk during the late morning or early afternoon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was very excited when I got a package from the UK! From P.M.David Silva & Sons … a new to me company! Double excitement from one package! Woo hoo!
This Craighead Kintyre Oya Seasonal Single Estate Ceylon Tea is the first tea that I’m sampling from them, and it’s a really lovely Ceylon!
When I think of Ceylon, I often think of the smooth, medium-bodied, even tempered, easy going black tea that has a moderate flavor that seems to take to adding flavor to quite well, which is why it’s one of the often utilized teas when it comes to selecting a base to create flavored teas. However, there are a lot of different Ceylon teas out there, and some have really surprised me. Like this Craighead, for example!
This is a rich and malty Ceylon, and if I had to compare it to another tea, I’d say that this is very Assam-like! It has that rich, bold flavor of an Assam, with a sweet, caramel-y undertone and a wonderful malty note. It isn’t quite as hefty as a typical Assam, I don’t think that I would turn to this tea for my first cup of the day. It doesn’t have that “shake me awake,” invigorating quality to it that I get from Assam tea.
But, it does have a very robust character, and it’s a tea that I’d want as my second cup of the day, and it would make a lovely afternoon tea as well. Because it does have a strong, assertive flavor, it would take well to the addition of milk and honey, if you’d like to add those. It would also make a great tea to serve to guests at a tea party, because usually, people like to add tea cubes and a splash of milk to their tea at tea parties. (This is based on my observation of the behaviors of guests at my favorite tea room.)
This is slightly tannic, but not overly so. I find that the tannins here seem to keep the sweeter notes of the tea in balance, so I get a nice, well-rounded taste with every sip.
I like that this tea makes me rethink “Ceylon.” This is not at all what I expected from a Ceylon, and I’m loving that!