Ceylon Silver Striped

Review of Ceylon Silver Stripped from The Tao of Tea sampler

I have been enjoying this tea for two days now. I began the morning of last with a brimming cup of this tea.

I placed two teaspoon of this tea in a cup and poured boiling water into the cup and placing lid on the cup let steep for 5 minutes. One teaspoon per 8 oz cup and steep for 4-5 minutes for one infusion is recommended.

While the tea steeps, I could not help notice the difference in the leaves in the disk like tin container. The leaves are very fine and curled; I don’t see silver in coloring but a rich darkish green in color.

Anyhow, in sipping this tea once, I could not help but take in the malt and robust of the flavor. On second sip I could sense chalkiness in my palette, not bad mind you, since the chalk makes me want to wet the taste buds more and so that is how I drank this tea through out the day. I drank this one sip at a time, while trying to quench the chalk in taste.

The color is dark reddish brown. The container of the leaves smells slightly vegetal but when brewed it is a robust, full body tea, well balanced in that it is not too astringent, nor too sweet. I can see where adding honey (Rock honey) would play nicely with this tea. And yes brown sugar would play nicely with this as well, it does enrich and enliven the cup.

This is a nice cup of tea, full in body and robust in flavor. I continue drinking it at dinner and this did not disturb nor curb my appetite. It is full in body but not filling; so that even after dinner it can still be enjoyed well into the early afternoon.

Thank you, Lelias Teaware for sending me these samples. I am enjoying them all so far.

This is NOT a basic tea, I was just underleafing it. It needs a lot more leaf to bring out its flavor, don’t be afraid to brew 5 grams for 300g water. It’s got lots of great notes like the brown sugar and the cherry juice and it even smells bready/yeasty to me. Would be amazing with a flaky pastry. A very solid tea and it makes me want to go to Akuressa to try it there.

Much better when done right! I enjoyed this tea this morning, using my thermometer and timer and I really enjoyed it.

Good morning, Steepster! My first tea for today came from miss cookies, who has been sweet enough to let me try a bunch of teas from The Tao of Tea, a company that I was curious about. I’m excited for this one, partially because I find the name adorable and partially because I’ve tasted some Ceylons that I really enjoyed lately. This one has teeny thin and dark leaves (no silver stripes, hmm…). I’m getting a strong citrus aroma from the leaves, as well as hay and honey.

The steeped tea smells rich and sweet with a raisin-y aroma. This tea has a rather simple flavor, but still a tasty one! It’s strong on the malt and has an Assam-like intensity that borders on bitterness. However, the molasses and raisin notes really improve this for me, as those are a couple of my favorite flavors to find in black teas. There’s a teeny bit of drying sensation at the end. Pretty tasty!

Had this one stored away for years as well – probably not fair to rate, but I still quite enjoyed it:

While heating water I admire the tippy, delicate, uniformly rolled, black silver-tinged needles. I have to look up FBOPF, and emerge from the rabbit hole of tea grades and lowland Ceylon history only as my timer tells me it’s time to remove the unglazed infuser from my cup.

Very low earthy aroma, but any notes of raw sugar, black currant, or citrus have disappeared probably due to the age of the tea. There is little of olfactory note remaining.

The flavor on the other hand is “deep” indeed, emerging slowly from an abyss to overtake the palate – a woodsy, astringent, distinctive profile that is quite brisk (almost biting) with an extended drying finish (albeit with a vague lingering bittersweet note for balance in the aftertaste). Impressed with the continued pungency of this tea (without excessive bitterness) despite its age – though I believe Paharatha (low grown) ceylon is known for this quality rather than subtlety or complexity?

Nicely revitalizing on a work day when what I really need is a nap.

For a Ceylon tea, which I generally find boring and not very noteworthy, this one is pretty good. But I still have yet to find a Ceylon tea that makes me say “Wow!”