Purchased “High Grown Ceylon Black Tea” in September 2022.
It’s mild, bland, and inoffensive.
Not sure how exciting a Ceylon can be. I maybe had high expectations after reading Amazon reviews.
For my first attempted brewing, I treated it the way I would make myself a high-quality black tea: Very generous amount of leaves, 30 second first brewing with 190º water, and then a second longer hotter brewing. The first brew was bland. For the second steeping I added even more leaves and used boiling water, but still couldn’t coax out much flavor.
I put that in the fridge for future ice-tea and tried again, this time measuring out two overflowing tablespoons of leaves into a tea pot, and adding only 10oz of boiling water, then letting it steep for a full 6 minutes. (This was maybe overkill, I might try 5min next time, or water just off a boil). At least I could get a sense of the flavor, and some of the briskness and tannin I expect from a Ceylon (EG: Lipton) tea.
A second brewing was only okay.
I’ll try brewing this one more time, as iced sun-tea, but likely will use the rest for Kombucha making, mixing with oolong or green teas to supplement the flavor.
I appreciate that they’re fair trade certified, organic certified, and kosher certified.
I especially love that they’re a member-owned co-op.
Still, I probably would not buy another pound.
Flavors: Brisk, Malt, Roasted, Tannin, Watery
