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The 3rd of 3 Ceylon teas I helped my humans review recently.
The Subject: Ceylon #1 from thepuriTea.com. (More info on the company.)
Water temperature: 212° F
Steeping time: 5-7 minutes per package label
Tea type: Black
Scents, flavorings added: N/A
Aroma, dry tea leaves: Jammy/raisiny/malty
Aroma in the cup, plain: Rich malty/raisiny
Taste in the cup, plain: Raisiny, malty, slight tang
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: See comments
Taste in the cup, enhanced: See comments
Additional Infusion(s): Did one, not recommended
Comments:
For a guy who made his career in Internet Marketing, owner Nav Nouhi’s foray into tea sales is a boon to tea aficionados everywhere.
This is a full leaf loose tea that we steeped loose in pot. The leaves would never have a chance to fully impart their flavor into the water if confined this in an infuser basket or teaball.
The liquid was a reddish color with a malty/raisiny aroma and a rich flavor with a slight tang. As it cools, the tea develops a hint of floral.
Milk seems to increase the maltiness while sweetener seems to give the tea a floral note (just a hint). Still, the tea was a bit too weak for the milk. Hubby and I recommend, therefore, that if you want to add milk to this tea that you steep it up stronger, using more tea leaves than the usual teaspoonful per 8 ounces of water and steeping about 7 or even 8 minutes instead of just the 6 minutes we did.
You will most assuredly get only one decent steeping this way, but don’t worry about being wasteful. Even when we did the regular 6-minute-steep, the 2nd infusion was weak, tasting like lightly-flavored water. Not recommended. Go ahead and make yourselves the best 1st steep and enjoy it with whatever you fancy.
Some Issues We Had:
The tea vendor’s preparation instructions on their website differed from the package label:
…Traditional Steeping: 3 to 5 minutes…This was true of the Assam #1 and the Darjeeling #1 tea samples we tried.
We followed the package label. Actually, since there was a time spread here, we steeped the tea for 6 minutes.
Our taste experience differed from their description, shown here:
…Dark brown, highly aromatic leaves brew into a coppery, bright brew with a citrusy, woody, floral scent. The flavor is deceptively simple. Each sip reveals new flavors of white flowers, stewed plums, lemon zest and cloves. The overall taste is smooth, but our Ceylon No. 1 also holds a light astringency that gives the flavor a beguiling spark and depth. The aftertaste of lactose sugar and mild astringency makes Ceylon No. 1 suitable for drinking on its own or sipping with a bit of milk, sugar, lemon or honey.…Hubby and I realize that it can be difficult for tea vendors to write a description of the taste of their tea that agrees with what their customers experience, so we weren’t at all put off by this. We detected a wonderful jammy/raisiny/malty notes, quite different from this description but quite in line with the other two Ceylon teas we tried as part of this “trio of taste.”
None of this stopped us from giving this tea a top rating. We are so blown away by the wonderful flavor of the 1st infusion, which is delightful plain. We’re sure that a stronger steeping would take the milk better.
Their packaging of these sample sizes were rather interesting.
Hubby and I don’t fall for the organic mumbo-jumbo nor assume that something labeled “organic” is going to be better quality (often, it’s just more expensive).
Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.
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