A delightful, mellow tea that was one of the best Ceylons I've tried in a while. A subtle tea that was better for calm meditation than as a pick-me-up.

Dry leaf has a beautiful, intact shape with long, wiry leaves in a dark purple-black color. It is only mildly aromatic, smelling lightly of malt and spice with a hint of wood. The leaf is visually stunning, and Murchie's photo on the website does not do it justice, so I had to take my own photo.

I found I preferred brewing this tea more strongly. The leaves take up a lot of space and are slow to infuse, so I preferred using a huge heaping teaspoon and steeping for 5 minutes or more. When I only steeped for three minutes, it produced a cup that was thick and dark, and had a pleasant but somewhat weak flavor, and the aroma wasn't as rich as I'd like. Brewing more strongly brought out more of the malty and woody notes, and made this tea more satisfying to drink. This tea is full-bodied but smooth, and I found I could brew it quite strongly without it coming across as harsh. There were floral hints in the aroma.

I don't think Murchie's description is accurate. It is described as "brisk" and "bright" and I would not use these words. This tea struck me as soft, smooth, warm, and dark. I normally wouldn't try a high-end tea like this with milk, but something about it suggested it might go well with milk too, so I set aside a bit and added a dash of milk and I found its aroma kind of came alive, so if you're someone who drinks tea with milk, I would especially recommend this one.

Resteeps exceptionally well, even if using a long initial steep.

This tea doesn't seem very caffeinated. I find it very relaxing; it would make a good afternoon tea. In the morning I was able to drink two cups of this back-to-back without feeling particularly wired.

Price is high-ish, but it's much more of a deal when you consider how well it resteeps. I highly recommend this one!

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