Ceylon Uva Pekoe – Black Tea

Brew & Taste

The Ceylon Uva Pekoe tea gives a beautiful, deep amber infusion. The beverage smells intense, its taste is pleasantly astringent, refreshing and slightly spicy.

Origins

The Uva region is also known as ''The heart of Ceylon''. It is located in the central region of the country, which has been officially called the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka since 1972. This area is littered with mountains reaching a height of around 2,000m altitude. The best teas are grown on their eastern slopes, where the tea trees are affected by the dry and cool northeast winds. These usually appear during the summer and signal the time for harvest. Cool nights and warm days contribute to the distinctive taste of black tea.

Because the leaves are rare and highly prized on the tea market, workers head out to the tea gardens with only large baskets or bags on their backs and pluck the tea by hand before the dew falls. They carry it to collecting points where it moves to processing. The leaves are spread out on drying trays, where they stay for several hours. They lose excess moisture. To be fermented, the structure of the leaves is broken. They are either hand or machine pressed. This is followed by a ''rest'' period which lasts several hours. During this process, tea acquires its final color and flavor. Fermentation is, of course, a delicate and well-guarded secret. A shorter or longer time of the process can destroy the whole batch. The drying of black tea is equally challenging. It is dried for 15-25 minutes at a temperature of 80⁰C. Burnt tea is easy to recognize –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ it smells and tastes like bread. On the other hand, if not dried properly, the tea can become moldy.

The preparation of black tea is not that complicated. If you want to enjoy it at its best, steep it in a glass or porcelain teapot. We advise heating the pot with hot water before you brew the tea –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ it will get rid of any remainder dirt and warm it up at the same time. Steaming and infusing Ceylon Uva Pekoe without a strainer is also important. This is because of its larger leaves which cannot fully develop in a strainer.

Black tea is suitable for early mornings, as it contains a large amount of caffeine. In some cultures, black tea is flavored with honey, sugar, milk or lemon.

Tea packaging preview

We pack our teas in a strong, zip-lock aluminum packet which allows you to easily re-seal its contents. This container protects the quality of the tea against humidity, light or foreign odors, all of which could noticeably affect the quality of the brew.