This was an exceptional tea and without a doubt one of the best Ceylons I've sampled ever. I like Ceylons, but outside of the ones from teakruthi, it's rare I find ones that stand out. This is one of them!

The leaf looks very straightforward, made of large broken pieces of wiry leaf, uniform in texture and dark gray-black color. But it smells AMAZING, a sort of fresh, light fragrance with hints of smoke and a sort of "forest floor" background.

The brewed cup is even more aromatic than the leaf. All the smells in the dry leaf are present in the cup, but in addition, notes of raspberry come out, and there is a strong malty character as well. Flavor is smooth, mild, and surprisingly sweet. This tea is naturally more sweet than bitter, which is unusual. Astringency is low, but enough to impart a medium body. The sweetness in this tea is remarkable.

I find this tea comes alive when brewed strongly. I use a heaping teaspoon and prefer a first steep of 4-5 minutes. The leaf is rather slow to infuse, and I found it resteeped well even with such a long first steep. The second cup has more raisin and dried fruit notes in the aroma.

A little on the mellower side caffeine-wise, which I think also works well with brewing it more strongly. I found this tea relaxing to drink and I usually preferred drinking it in the afternoon.

Like all of TeaSource's teas that I've tried, the price on this is great. I am incredibly impressed with TeaSource so far, as every tea I've tried from them has been top-notch and bargain-priced.

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