Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
High-grown Yunnan of excellent quality. Sold by some as the best available, this grade is actually the best of the commonly available grades. Brisk flavor without the harshness of lesser Yunnan teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Yunnan GFOP from Upton Tea Imports is a really lovely Yunnan. It is is everything that you expect from a high quality Yunnan. It is sweet, malty, rich and has a delicious peppery overtone.
The leaves are long and wiry, and vary in color from a golden tan to a chocolate-y brown. The tea brews up dark, and smells slightly earthy, with notes of spice.
This tea has very little astringency, and no noticeable bitterness. It’s really a pleasant tea to sip – very agreeable! The aftertaste is slightly spicy with sweet notes.
This is a rich and robust tea, which makes it a good choice for a morning tea (and would take the additions of milk and honey well, although I prefer it served straight), this tea would also do quite well as an afternoon pick-me-up.
Delicious!
Organic Kundaly from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Organic Kundaly is sourced from the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation in Kerala, India. This extra special Pekoe grade tea has floral and roasted walnut notes. Organic Kundaly is an assertive lightly astringent black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really wonderful black tea that reminds me of autumn. It has a warm, roasted nut flavor that I associate with the crispness of fall, when the air begins to cool and the leaves begin to change.
I haven’t heard of Kundaly tea before, at first I thought it might be the name of the plantation on which the tea is grown, but I then noticed in the description that the name of the plantation in India is the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation. So, I began to carefully sip the tea, trying to place it.
Is it a Ceylon? It has some notes that remind me of a Ceylon, like hints of floral tones, and an astringency that makes me think of Ceylon tea. Is it an Assam? It doesn’t have the malty tone that I usually associate with an Assam. It is a fairly assertive type of black tea, I’d place it somewhere between a Ceylon and Assam in terms of strength.
But, it really isn’t quite like either one of these teas. The nutty flavors that I mentioned earlier seem to develop as I sip, and I really taste the walnut-like flavors as mentioned in the description from Butiki Teas. But, I was still quite curious about this tea, so I decided to drop a note to Stacy from Butiki Teas to learn more about it. Here’s what she had to say:
This tea comes from the Nilgiri tea region in south India. It has characteristics of most Nilgiri teas but it is sweeter and lighter than most Nilgiris that I have tasted. Its sourced from the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation in Munnar in Kerala state.
Kundaly is one of 3 rivers in Munnar. I had originally purchased this tea solely to use as a base tea for some flavored teas but decided to also sell it separately because I was enjoying it so much. It’s the base of our Almond Indulgence and Raspberry Truffle tea.
I hadn’t even guessed a Nilgiri because I usually think of Nilgiri to be more similar to Assam teas with a slightly malty note and deep, rich flavor. I brewed another pot to see if I might notice more of a Nilgiri type flavor, and when it’s freshly brewed and just poured from the teapot hot, I notice some malty taste an a richness that is definitely very Nilgiri-like.
But since I don’t usually drink my teas straight from the teapot (I like them to cool slightly, at least!) I didn’t notice it before. As the tea cools, the malty notes take on a more sweet toasted nut flavor. It is certainly lighter in texture and taste than most Nilgiri teas I’ve tasted, but, it does have a pleasant assertiveness and strength to it.
This is a very enjoyable black tea – one that is strong enough for a morning tea, but also quite nice as a contemplative afternoon cup. It is one of those teas that is absolutely worth exploring – I highly recommend it!
Orange Pekoe Tea from Gorreana Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Gorreana Tea
Tea Description:
An exquisite premium grade black tea grown in the mineral rich Gorreana mountains surrounded by the majestic blue Atlantic ocean and exotic flowers that scent the delicate tea leaves to bring out its unique bold flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Although the name may sound like it’s a citrus fruit flavored tea, Orange Pekoe refers to the grading of this black tea, not the flavor. This is not the tea bagge fodder that is found in your local grocery store … this is a pure, high-quality black tea from Portugal, and it’s quite delightful!
This medium-bodied black tea has a sweet, honey-like flavor with wonderful floral notes that weave their way throughout the sip. It is a mild, even-tempered kind of tea, with hints of earthiness in the background. It is not bitter. It has only a hint of astringency at the tail, and a sweet aftertaste.
This isn’t what I’d call a bold or robust tea, nor is it a tea that I’d recommend as a breakfast tea as it doesn’t have that certain get-up-and-go kind of gusto to it. But, what it does have is a bright, lively flavor that is sure to warm up your afternoon or early evening, and it has a delicious flavor that you’ll be proud to serve to guests. It also makes an excellent iced tea – try it with a wedge of lemon!
A very enjoyable tea, I highly recommend it.
Morawaka Ceylon Pekoe-1 from KTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: KTeas
Product Description:
Curly, leafy tea of a slightly smaller size (hence the “1”) produce a good, basic cup of tea that has a light liquor, a delicate taste, and a pleasantly memorable finish.
Taster’s Review:
I think that with this sampling, I’ve had the opportunity to try six of the seven Ceylon teas that KTeas offers from the Morawaka estate in Sri Lanka. And of the five different teas that I’ve tasted and reviewed, this Ceylon Pekoe-1 is perhaps the best example of what I think of when I think of a high-quality Ceylon tea. This tea tastes like Ceylon to me.
The dry leaves resemble small, curly pellets that almost look like a greener Oolong (only the leaves here are, of course, black). After infusion, they open up a bit, but they are still curly. The one thing that stood out to me most when looking at the infused leaf is just how uniform in size they are.
And the flavor that these leaves produce is delightful. Smooth yet rustic, this tea evokes thoughts of curling up under a blanket, in front of a roaring fire in a log cabin in the woods. I’m not sure why that thought came to me as I sip this tea; all that I can come up with is that it has that kind of comforting flavor that you’d want to curl up with in front of a fire in a log cabin …rich and flavorful, while at the same time maintaining that mellow evenness to it that I expect from a good Ceylon.
I detect no bitterness to this cup, although there is some astringency at the end that I’d classify as a tangy sort of astringency. There is also a somewhat citrus-y finish to this cup that seamlessly melds with the astringency. The aftertaste is caramel-y sweet, somewhat floral and slightly tangy.
With so many Morawaka estate teas to choose from at KTeas, you might wonder which to choose. Maybe this will help steer you in the right direction: For a good, strong Ceylon that almost rivals a hearty Assam, you should try the FBOPF Ceylon or the FBOPF-1 Ceylon. If you want a bold, hefty Ceylon, try the BOP-1 Ceylon. If you’re looking for that familiar Ceylon flavor, try this Pekoe-1 Ceylon, or for a crisper, brighter take on the familiar Ceylon, try the OP-1 Ceylon. Finally, if you want the convenience of teabags, but still want a high quality Ceylon in those teabags, try the BOPF Ceylon Teabags.
What ever you might be looking for in a top-notch Ceylon, KTeas has you covered!
Adawatte Estate Pekoe from Empire Tea Services
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Empire Tea Services
Product Description:
An excellent tea from the Uva region famous for the ‘Uva’ flavor.
Taster’s Review:
This is a delightful Ceylon tea – very flavorful!
Typically, when I drink a Ceylon tea, it is as either part of a blend or the base of a flavored tea. I don’t drink a lot of “unflavored” Ceylon teas. Not because I don’t like them, but because, for the most part, they are quite ordinary. Mind you, I said “for the most part,” because there are exceptions to this. Like this tea, for example.
This single estate Ceylon is very brisk and rich in flavor. It has a pleasant level of astringency with a slight pucker at the very end of the sip, imparting a tangy note on the tongue for the aftertaste. No bitterness to this tea, although I don’t recommend over-steeping it. It has a very well-rounded flavor that features notes of fruit, flower and even hints of earth. It’s invigorating enough to serve as a breakfast tea, and makes for an excellent pick-me-up in the afternoon.
I like the smooth, even flavor of this cup, it takes well to additions like milk and honey, if you want to add them, or if you prefer your cup straight up, this one does well served clean too. It is especially nice with a thin slice of citrus and makes a refreshing iced tea.
It is a perfect “go-to” staple that every tea cupboard needs!