Lovers’ Leap Tea Estate Black Tea from P.M.David Silva & Sons

lovers-leapTea 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

craigheadTea 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!

SoHo Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons

sohoTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Harney & Sons

Tea Description:

We are introducing our SoHo Blend in honor of our new shop in Manhattan. Emeric Harney, the shop’s host, came up with this flavored black tea concoction. Our SoHo Tea is a beautifully delicious blend of black tea with chocolate, coconut and vanilla flavors, and amaranth petals.

Learn more about this blend here.

Taster’s Review:

When I read the description of this SoHo Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons, I really wanted to try it.  Chocolate?  Coconut?  And Vanilla?  That sounds too yummy to pass up.  It sounds like … a candy bar in tea form!  After checking through my reviews though, it would seem that I’ve reviewed this tea previously … so, consider this my second voyage with this tea.

The fragrance of the brewed tea is incredible.  I can smell all the components:  the rich chocolate notes, the creamy vanilla, and the sweet scent of coconut.  I can even smell the earthy notes of the black tea in the background. I even smell very faint hints of flower, although these are somewhat obscured by the chocolate-y tones, which seems to be the most prominent aroma in this cup.

And this is a tasty tea.  Unfortunately, it’s just not … quite as rich as I expected it to be.  The body falls kind of flat and thin.  Perhaps a more robust black tea base would help … something rich and malty like an Assam?  Something with some heft that will not only support the chocolate, vanilla and coconut flavors, but also elevate them.

It’s not a bad tea.  It has an agreeable flavor … I can taste the chocolate and the coconut and the vanilla notes.  I can even taste the black tea.  But, everything is just sort of … lacking in gusto.  It’s a thin chocolate taste and you know me, I like a rich chocolate-y flavor.  The coconut and the vanilla meld together to create a unified creamy note that’s a little bit coconut-y and a little bit vanilla-ish, but both of these flavors have the capability of producing a really rich, creamy flavor and I’m just not getting that from the sip.

Like I said, it’s a tasty, decently flavored tea, very much like my first experience, although I think maybe I liked it better the first time around than maybe the second.  I guess it just goes to show that our palates change!

Pan Asia Green Tea Blend from Harney & Sons

panasiaTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Harney & Sons

Tea Description:

A delightful blend of Chinese Bancha and big Chrysanthemum flowers that create a light, clean tasting delight.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  We haven’t yet celebrated our Thanksgiving because my husband works every Thursday, and it’s next to impossible for him to get the day off, especially if Thursday happens to fall on a holiday.  So, we always postpone our Thanksgiving for a day when the whole family can come together, and this year, it happens to be this coming Tuesday.

But as I sit here, contemplating my Thanksgiving feast menu, I am sipping on this Pan Asia Green Tea Blend from Harney & Sons.  It’s sweet and light, with a refreshing floral note.  The background is slightly grassy.  It’s a delightful tea to drink as I’m trying not to get stressed out over holiday plans.  It’s keeping my nerves in check!

Overall, the flavor reminds me of springtime, and that’s certainly a welcome memory as it is quite cold outside right now.  Brrrrr!  I am finding this tea – served warm – to be very soothing and calming and helping me to forget that chill outside, and the stress that I’m feeling on my insides!

Of course, this tea would be splendid served iced too.  The texture is soft and the flavor sweet, and the chrysanthemum adds just a hint of sharpness to the buttery smooth notes of the Chinese Bancha.

It’s not too floral and not too grassy.  There’s a really enjoyable balance of tastes.  A nice, relaxing cuppa.

Blue Ginger Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons

bluegingerTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Harney & Sons

Tea Description:

For years, we have been honored to supply the tea to Ming Tsai’s famous restaurant: Blue Ginger. This blend is a heady combination of Fujian black tea and floral lychee fruit with a hint of ginger.

Learn more about this blend here.

Taster’s Review:

The first thing that was noteworthy to me about this tea was the aroma.  Typically with a lychee tea, I get that overwhelming scent of lychee from the dry leaf which … is nice, but sometimes it’s a bit TOO much and can often come off as somewhat chemical-ish, you know what I mean?  But with this Blue Ginger Black Tea Blend from Harney & Sons, the lychee notes seem somewhat subdued, which is possibly due to the fact that there is also ginger in this blend.

The brewed tea is wonderfully aromatic with notes of lychee, ginger and a rich black tea base.  And that’s exactly what the flavor delivers!

The black tea base is a hearty Fujian black tea which provides a good, solid background of flavor that is rich and full-flavored.  Typically with a pure Fujian black tea, I will note hints of caramel and cocoa in the flavors, and I’m picking up on those here.  It’s much more subtle than I’d experience from a pure tea, but, it’s still nice that I’m tasting them!

The lychee and ginger seem very compatible.  Lychee can sometimes taste a bit “perfume-y” and the ginger seems to tone that down enough so that the lychee tastes sweet and fruity without tasting so much of the perfume-like qualities of the aromatic fruit.

On the other hand, ginger can sometimes come off as a bit too spicy and hot, but in the presence of the lychee, the ginger tastes warm and slightly peppery without experiencing the fire that ginger can sometimes deliver.

Like I said, these two ingredients work very well together!  Overall, I really enjoyed this Blue Ginger Tea.  According to the Harney & Sons website, this tea is one that is supplied to Chef Ming Tsai’s restaurant by the same name – Blue Ginger.  A very cool and delightfully unique tea to feature in a restaurant.  I guess I’ve been offered one too many generic tea bags in restaurants becaus I know that I’d be excited to find something like this tea in a restaurant!