Pure Ceylon Tea (FBOPF "SP")
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Ratings & Reviews
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89 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Mar. 7th, 2018
Wow, this tea offers the most exceptional value of any tea I've ever tried. It was $6.50 for a pound, yet was better than many artisan teas I've had for over 6 times the price. Similar to Ahmad Tea's Ceylon (one of my favorites), but a smidge cheaper and I think I slightly prefer this one.
The leaf consists of fairly large, broken pieces, and it smells pleasant, but not very strongly until brewing. Because the smell wasn't strong, I initially didn't expect much.
When you brew this tea, however, it becomes richly aromatic. The aroma is malty, with a toasty quality and some floral notes. Like a top-quality Ceylon tea. The flavor is what I'd expect from a middle-of-the-road Ceylon, strong, but a little less than a typical Assam.
The flavor is bold but surprisingly sweet too. The sweetness is something I rarely encounter outside of top-grade teas, unbroken grades (GFOP, TGFOP, and up). The cup is very smooth. The color is very rich, a dark reddish-brown, thick looking, and thick tasting, but surprisingly low in astringency for a tea of this strength and price.
This tea is very easy to brew, and compared with other broken-leaf teas, it surprised me by resteeping well. If you use a heaping teapsoon and steep for three minutes, you can get a second, perfectly flavorful cup by making a long (8-12ish minute) second infusion. Alternatively you can use a little less leaf and steep it 5-8 minutes and do it only once. It's very good both ways. A longer steep brings out the toasty notes, shorter emphasizes the sweetness. Astringency is surprisingly low.
I can't emphasize how much I've been wowed by this tea. I think I have discovered a new staple that I will probably always keep in my cupboard. When I'm not reviewing small-batch artisan teas, I drink a lot of strong black tea, and this far exceeds my expectations for an everyday tea. It's wonderful!
Page 1 of 1 page with 1 review
