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!