Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Fancy extra large wiry leaf. Smooth taste. Exceptional.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The above description for this Vithanakanda Estate OP1 Black Tea from Empire Tea Services is short and simple … but it is also spot-on! This cup is indeed smooth tasting and truly exceptional! One of the best examples of high-quality Ceylon teas I’ve tasted.
From the very first sip, I’ve been WOWing on this tea! That is to say, from that very first sip, the first word I uttered is wow! It is smooth from start to finish … absolutely no bitterness. Just smooth, rich taste that starts off sweet with notes of honeyed caramel, and a few moments later, I notice a rich malty tone.
Moments later, a fruity note comes in to play with hints of flower in the distance. The finish is sweet with a citrus taste that is faintly tangy … and it is here that I notice a slight – ever so slight! – astringency. I find that the astringency becomes apparent only when I’m really focusing and trying to find it … so for those of you who tend to avoid teas with an astringent finish, I think this one will be to your liking.
Having recently reviewed another Ceylon from this estate, I have to say that the Vithanakanda estate is turning out to be one of my favorites for Ceylon tea. The teas produced on this estate are of the utmost quality: rich, smooth and delicious and beyond what I’ve come to expect from a typical Ceylon. This is the good stuff!
This tea is very pleasing. A medium to full tasting tea, not what I’d call particularly invigorating the way you’d expect an Assam to be, for example, but, it does have a strong, brisk taste that would make a good pick-me-up when you need something that will recharge you. Enough flavor to hold up well if you like to add milk and honey to your tea … but enjoyable enough to drink straight-up too!
Peach & Apricot Green Tea from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Temple of Heaven Green tea with Peach and Apricot flavors. Delicious.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf is strong and distinctively peach and apricot. So distinctive that I could smell it the moment I opened the pouch! It smells so mouthwateringly delicious, so true to the fruit essences, so much like summer! YUM!
The flavor is also strong, but I like that there is a pleasing balance between the flavor of the Temple of Heaven green tea and the stone fruit. The green tea tastes fresh and a little creamy. There are toasty nut notes and whispers of smoke in the distance. Vegetative but not overwhelmingly so.
And the fruit notes do not taste chemical or artificial. It tastes as though fresh, tree ripened peaches and apricots had been liquified and mixed in a 1:1 ratio with green tea! So sweet and luscious.
This tea is absolutely lovely. It tastes good hot, but I prefer it iced – it is a delicious representation of two of my favorite summertime fruits. This one is really good … certainly one of the best flavored green teas I’ve tried lately. If you’re a fan of peach or apricot (or both!) … you’ve got to try this!
Tropical Delight (Iced Tea) from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Mango, Passion Fruit and Kiwi flavors with Ceylon tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I brewed this earlier this morning and let it chill in the fridge until this afternoon, because I knew I’d be out and about running errands, and I wanted to be able to enjoy this tea as it was intended – as an iced tea.
I did manage to take a quick sip or two as a hot tea, though, and enjoyed it that way as well. But, I do think that this is much better as an iced tea. The flavor was a bit strong as a hot tea, but because flavors tend to soften as they cool, those big, bold flavors had become just right when it chilled.
This is really tasty. The flavor of the Ceylon tea is prominent, and what I like here is that this is not some wimpy, lackluster Ceylon – this is a robustly flavored, brisk Ceylon that is tasty enough to stand on its own. As a chilled tea, it has a pleasant level of astringency, and has a very thirst-quenching, refreshing quality to it.
The flavors start out a little bit subtle. After the first sip or two, while I can smell the fragrance of the fruit … the flavors are slow to emerge. The first note that I taste is the mango and then after another sip, I begin to notice the passion fruit. The kiwi is the last to come forward, and at first I wished I could taste the kiwi flavor a bit more, but, by the time I reached the end of the glass, the kiwi had reached a very satisfying level.
I like how the flavors develop. They start out soft, and now as I am nearly finished, I can taste the sweet tropical flavors in the aftertaste … making me want more!
Nice and refreshing – a great treat as these hot summer days begin to wane into the cooler autumn months ahead; I like that it’s still warm enough to fully enjoy a delicious glass of iced tea, and this tea makes a great iced tea, indeed!
Pi Lo Chun from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Small down covered leaves are curled into spiral shapes. Also called “Green Snail Spring”. Two infusions. Great taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is an AWESOME Pi Lo Chun!
The flavor is sweet and very fresh – like the new green-ness of springtime! It has a clean, vegetative taste. Not what I’d categorize as “grassy,” I’d describe this as steamed, mild-tasting vegetables. There is a cream-like taste to this, but not so much a buttery creaminess, instead, this is like sweet cream.
There is also a hint of flower in the distance. Imagine, if you would, standing in the middle of a vegetable garden that is in the state of harvest. The vegetables are fresh and young, and there is a blooming patch of flowers nearby. Now, imagine what that air might smell like … might taste like. There you have what I’m experiencing now with this delicious Pi Lo Chun.
This is exquisitely refreshing to sip, sweet with no bitterness to interrupt the sip. The astringency is quite low, in fact, I found myself having to search for it to recognize it, as it was so subtle that I didn’t notice it outright. This tea simply wants you to focus on it’s lovely sweet flavors, and does nothing to stand in the way of that.
I highly recommend this Pi Lo Chun to all tea drinkers, if this one isn’t already in your tea cupboard … it should be!
Season’s Greetings Tea (AKA Caramel Tea) from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Green Teas
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Tea Description:
Sencha green tea, Ceylon black tea, Almond slivers, and Caramel flavoring.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I debated with myself about whether or not I should publish this review now, or if I should wait until it was closer to the holiday season, but decided that since this tea is indeed available year round (and certainly quite enjoyable any time you choose to brew it!) I would publish the review now.
I was also a little confused by the tea, because the sample I had received was called “Caramel” and I couldn’t find it on the website! Fortunately, though, the staff at Empire Tea Services is very friendly, and they got back to me to let me know more about this tea, including that it is also called Season’s Greetings!
Well, whether you call it Caramel or Season’s Greetings … and no matter what time of year you steep it … one thing that remains consistent with this tea is that it is AWESOMELY GOOD!
The base of this tea is a blend of black Ceylon and green Sencha teas. I infused it using a lower temperature water (175°F) to ensure that the green tea would not be scorched, and this made for a perfect cup. The flavor of the black tea was not quite as rich as it would be if it were brewed with boiling water, but, this allowed for the buttery nuances of the Sencha tea to come through.
And it was those sweet, buttery tones that really made this tea shine. The sweet, creamy notes of the caramel married beautifully with the flavors of the green tea, while the black tea flavors seemed to meld naturally with the sweet almond notes. Together it created a fusion of amazing flavors.
Normally, when I think of a “Christmas Tea” … this isn’t the combination of flavors I envision. But, I love this different interpretation of the holiday season … it makes for a perfect cup of tea any time of year.