Amba Ceylon

I’ve been drinking this tea for a month or so and for a few days have been having it as my morning tea. It has that briskness of a Ceylon, but not too much. It makes a nice brown liquor and is very soft on the palate. It is a very coarse tea, meaning that the leaves are whole leaves not broken bits. It also has some of the camelia flowers in with the tea. All in all I have been really enjoying this tea, stronger than my usual Darjeeling but really nice in the drinking and nice in the finish.

I’ve been playing around with the water temperature and lower temperatures don’t do it justice. I let the kettle stop boiling for a minute but hardly longer than that. 5 minute steep time.

I am happy to know Amba is fair trade. And I really like this tea. The first experience I had with Amba was from What-cha. This seems to be a lower level leaf then what What-cha provides. And I prefer the floral taste of the other one, too.

I ordered a sample of this tea from Harney and Sons a couple months back, and in a concerted effort to reduce the number of teas I have left in my cupboard, I decided to take a break from oolongs and give this tea a chance. Those of you who read my reviews have probably noticed that I do not review Ceylon teas all that frequently. There is a reason for this-I don’t tend to like them as well as many Chinese, Indian, and Taiwanese black teas. Still, I wanted to give this tea a fair shot, so I did my absolute best to ensure that my bias against Ceylonese black teas did not get in my way when it came to reviewing this tea.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped approximately 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water. I tried a couple different steep times when making this tea, all in the 4-5 minute range. The specific preparation I am reviewing utilized a 4 minute steep time. I thought that one was the best and most balanced. Note that I did not resteep this tea. Again, I generally do not resteep black teas unless specifically recommended by the vendor.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the little tea pouch was that this tea contained not only leaves, but intact stems and flowers as well. It was a nice touch and really added to the aroma of the tea. The infused liquor was a rich golden amber with a slightly brownish tint. On the nose, I picked up pronounced aromas of herbs, toast, malt, leather, orange, lemon, and honey. There was also a faint tea flower scent. In the mouth, I detected distinct notes of orange, lemon, herbs, toast, malt, cream, roasted nuts, leather, honey, apricot, molasses, and tea flowers. There was also what I thought was a mild spiciness, but after trying this tea a couple different ways, I still could not be sure. Maybe it was just me. The finish emphasized brisk floral, citrus, and toast notes with a pronounced astringency that imparted a lingering dryness.

If I can say one thing about this tea, it is that it is unique. The inclusion of intact stems and flowers gives it a little extra something visually, on the nose, and in the mouth that is hard for me to explain. It almost gives the tea a rustic quality that is very endearing. Otherwise, the mix of aromas and flavors is good, though nothing I wouldn’t expect from a typical Ceylonese black tea. If you are a fan of Ceylonese teas and looking for something a tad quirky, I could see this being up your alley.

A really nice Ceylon, much lighter and more delicate than the Thieves tea, but still flavorful.

Delightful Ceylon tea from Harney. It is a light whole leaf tea with dried camellia flowers and when opening the bag for the first time, I was hooked on the lovely scent.

It can get too strong when using too much, so with this one I make sure to measure level teaspoon amounts. But taking care with the measuring and steep time results in a balanced, slightly sweet cup which I love to enjoy in the afternoon.

I like to brew this one in the afternoon, letting it steep for 3 minutes.

I really enjoyed this tea! The use of tea flowers is such an innovative idea, and it wasn’t too perfumed. I also enjoyed the use of a Ceylon tea. I tasted notes of wintergreen and other things. Maybe Amba is high-grown? Delicious!

I just bought this from Harney in Sample format. The tea includes not only petals but all parts of the flower making it quite rustic in appearance and unique. I am a big tea drinker, and was a bit surprised to find that I found this tea to have the reminiscence of wet dog. It is a nice robust ceylon, but certainly not one I would drink daily. Since this just a sample size, I am not sure if this was just due to the specific cup I brewed (e.g. a wierd part of a flower maybe got in) but I wouldn’t recommend.