If you want to support a family business, tea from Old Ways Tea offers you an opportunity to do just that. The owner of Old Ways Tea is originally from the Wuyi mountains in China, but lives in the US. The only tea sold is based upon what the family farm in China is able to produce that year. If you watch the site regularly, you can also sign up for the newsletter to provide you updates with harvest season!
Visually, the Old Tree Black Tea looks like your standard black tea with large leaves for brewing. Old Tree tea is picked from trees that are allowed to grow much larger than most tea crops. Since they are so large, their roots extend far into the soil and are able to bring a different layer of minerals and nutrients to the leaves which impact the flavor profile. For Old Ways Tea’s Old Tree tea, the additional minerals have resulted in a nice smooth flavor. It is lighter than most black teas, and it would be great as a starter black tea if you are more of a white or green tea person. My morning cuppa almost always consist of a black tea and I found the Old Tree Black Tea was best with no alteration from sweeteners or cream. Though I did enjoy it with sugar and cream, it tasted best straight from the teapot. For me, this was a tea that was best enjoyed hot.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Old Ways Tea
Description
This is black tea produced from older wild style trees. The trees are allowed to grow as they wish getting much bigger than normal. The trees are different in two distinct ways. First since they are older trees the roots have reached past the upper soil into the rocks below and can access a broader mineral content than young trees; providing additional flavor complexity. Secondly the wild style trees are denser which provides a micro-climate influencing the lichen, leaves, and shading of the tree.
This old tree black tea comes from the village of Masu (麻粟) high in the mountains above Tongmu village, in Wuyishan City, China. The farms are small and located at an elevation of 1250 meters. The soil is very rocky and the clear cold streams fast flowing. The trees are said to be roughly 60 years old; although with matters of age it can be hard to verify the claims. I am satisfied and happy to offer this tea for your enjoyment.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
CRAIGMORE ESTATE, NILGIRI/ Yatra Tea
First off I do not know what flush this was picked or what year.
But if I were to guess it would most likely be either 2016 first or second flush or it could be that this is indeed the 2017 flush.
I don’t drink straight up black teas like this often. Mainly because most people who drink them add milk and or sugar and I do not tend to do that. Except this time.
After tasting it every minute while steeping. I decided 4 minutes was prime. It screams put milk in me. It has a bit of a bitterness to it along with the earthy forest flavors that make it seem prime for a spot of milk.
And so…. I added some after my initial plain cup. Of course because I’ve only added milk a handful of times… I messed up.
Too much almond milk. Now it’s more like a latte. After steeping the leaves directly in the almond milk for a bit longer it now seems better.
Quite tasty actual. It helps bring out some of the nutty and wet earth notes and mellows out the bitterness.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Yatra Tea Company
Description:
Crepy leaves that yield a medium-dark liquor, with a slightly woody, malty aroma, and a medium body with mildly brisk character.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Dimbula Tea from Zesta Tea. . . .
Dimbula Plantation teas are mostly grown around 5,000 to 6,000 feet on the island of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. The different altitudes make a lot of difference in the taste of the tea grown, and teas typically retain the name of Ceylon tea, this one being further identified as a High Grown Broken Orange Pekoe or BOP. Orange Pekoe refers to the size of the leaves that were picked and therefore also their location on the branch, as tip leaves are smaller, and broken tells us that this isn’t whole leaf tea.
While whole leaf tea is usually more expensive, that doesn’t mean that broken leaf can’t be good. If it came from good leaf, it just becomes broken good leaves. It can mean you need a fine strainer, and it does mean there is more surface area and therefore, you need to cut your steep time short to prevent bitterness, but made properly, broken leaf teas can be quite delicious.
This tea has a hearty, classic tea scent and bold flavor. The citrus notes are high enough to tingle your nose when you sniff the steeped tea. The liquor is dark orange and medium bodied. It has a nice briskness and goes well with food. I drink almost all of my tea plain, and this one is palatable that way, but if you like milk and sugar in your tea, this one can certainly take it. It also makes a good iced sweet tea.
I would have no trouble serving this as a breakfast tea, but it also does duty in my house as an afternoon tea with sweets, which is how I think I most like to use it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zesta Tea
Description
Enjoy our regional tea packs featuring teas from five tea growing regions of Sri Lanka – Dimbula, Ruhuna, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Uva. This variety from such a small island is what made Ceylon tea famous – try it – from the low grown Ruhuna teas to the high grown Nuwara Eliya – a true journey in Ceylon tea, packaged in teabags for convenience and offered in a pine wood box. Perfect for gifting.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ruhuna Tea from Zesta Tea . . . . . .
The Ruhuna (sometimes spelled Ruhunu) tea from Zesta is part of their regional tea tasting set. This black tea came in a beautiful red patterned box, and I’m tempted to try the rest of their regional tea set just for the eye-catching packaging alone. Beneath the red box is a foil bag of tea, so I popped it open and started brewing.
The dry leaves were small and tightly rolled, almost like pellets. When I put my nose into the bag of tea the leaves were very fragrant, with both earthy almost-tobacco notes complimented by bright lemony scents.
In brewing, the leaves unfurled and quickly produced a dark and potent cup of tea. The taste is definitely that of a strong black tea, but not so strong that it makes your mouth pucker. This is where the Ruhuna blend stands out. It doesn’t have the fuzzy and chocolatey mouthfeel of some assam or malty breakfast teas. But it is not sharp or bitter like other brighter black teas I’ve tried, even after a longer steep time.
Ruhuna is powered by its citrus flavors, tasting as sunny and lemony as you can without adding flavoring or lemon peel to the tea. Beneath that first flush of lemon, there are sweeter orange notes, all supported by a a robust and figgy black tea base.
Sweet without being artificial, and bright without being too tart, it is easy to enjoy such an uplifting and drinkable tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zesta Tea
Description:
Enjoy our regional tea packs featuring teas from five tea growing regions of Sri Lanka – Dimbula, Ruhuna, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Uva. This variety from such a small island is what made Ceylon tea famous – try it – from the low grown Ruhuna teas to the high grown Nuwara Eliya – a true journey in Ceylon tea, packaged in teabags for convenience and offered in a pine wood box. Perfect for gifting.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Anji Bai from Teasenz. . . .
In Texas, and the south in general, you can never count on one weather season staying around for too long. One day we’ll have highs in the 80s then we’ll be back to the 40s and 50s.
When I tried the Anji Bai blend, it was one of those weeks where the area couldn’t decide what season it wanted to be in. I was ready for warmth, but at 2:00pm I wanted something a bit lighter than my standard black tea. This brew created a mild color, closer to a true green when compared with the tan that many green teas create in your cup. There was a mild fresh aroma and it was reminiscent of a floral arrangement in the spring.
I’m very glad I selected this particular cuppa because it will be a great tea for when it is hot outside, but you still want a hot cup of tea.
The mild flavor works in this blend’s favor nicely. I was able to enjoy this both with and without a sweetener and I believe you could leave it to your personal preference on how you’d prefer to prepare your cuppa.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Description
Fresh and creamy soft with notes of citrus and nuts. From Anji, the town of dense bamboo forests and tea cultivation, comes this Anji Bai Cha, one of the rarest of all Chinese teas. With long, delicate, vivid green leaves, Anji white tea is beautiful in every sense of the word. A green tea connoisseur’s dream.