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This is the other tea that Joshua was kind enough to send me. It is a single estate black tea from the Venture Estate in the Dimbula district of Sri Lanka. Though I am still not huge on Sri Lankan (Ceylonese) black teas in general, I do tend to have a somewhat more favorable opinion of some Dimbula teas. I can honestly say that this one is solid.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 208 F water for 3 minutes. I also tried slightly longer infusion times (4 and 5 minutes), but the results were not really all that different from the 3 minute preparation. This review will specifically refer to that one.

After infusion, the liquor showed a dark, clear amber in the cup. I noted interesting, but not particularly distinct aromas of flowers, leather, caramel, herbs, must, and hay on the nose. There was also a very slight fruitiness. In the mouth, I detected notes of cream, malt, brown toast, leather, roasted nuts, herbs, must, hay, and flowers. This tea also displayed something of a leafy, almost grassy quality that is pretty much impossible for me to describe. I also thought I detected a hint of fruitiness in the mouth. It was very faint and quickly flitted across the palate, but I was reminded a bit of stewed apricot and mango. It may have just been me though.

All in all, I kind of like this tea. As mentioned above and in several of my other reviews, I do not tend to be a huge fan of black teas from Sri Lanka. There are exceptions, but in general, they do not consistently do it for me. This one is a little better than some others that I have tried. It is smooth, has just enough flavor to be interesting, and would serve its purpose as a breakfast or afternoon tea. I do wish it had just a little more body, but that is a common complaint I level against many black teas from Sri Lanka. Overall, I don’t see any serious issues with this tea. It’s a solid little breakfast tea that should appeal to fans of no frills black teas.