Nuwara Eliya Courtlodge

This is a tea sent to me for FREE as part of a FREE tea giveaway offered by Pekko Teas. I’d like to thank them for this generous offer, & for their delicious tea.

http://steepster.com/discuss/3389-pekko-teas-free-steepster-exclusive-give-away

I served this tasty tea on Monday to one of my students, & yesterday to 3 out of 4 of my children & a friend, and they all enjoyed it. Today I’m savoring a cup alone.

I closed my eyes & took a whiff of this high quality ceylon tea, & I pictured an orange, laying on a bed of rose petals. There is a very mild citrus aroma, a hint of rose, & a clean & bright tea-scent underlying it all.

I steeped a cup. The color is beautiful, an orange amber liquor. This is not a deep chocolate grogg (which, I admit, I tend to favor), but more of a sophisticated lady, where teas are concerned. The flavor is bright, with a hint of orange, and a little clove to make your tongue tingle. It’s quite nice!

I had this earlier today and while it wasn’t a bad black, there are so very many more out there that I vastly prefer to this one. I like my black morning teas to be bold and robust and announce their presence! This one did not….but it was still a decent cup of tea. Thanks Terri!

First tea I am trying from the returned traveling tea box!!!

It just felt like a Ceylon day, and I love me an estate Ceylon.

This one is a lot more subtle than others I’ve had, there is absolutely nothing brisk about it. It actually tastes more like a Darjeeling, minus any astringency. It’s very citrusy, definitely orange, with just a slight hint of flowers.

Very, very clean on the palate. Super smooth, too.

Hey Pekko Teas, TY for a generous sample of this tea! My dad stole the stamps off the package btw. Pretty cool this came all the way from London!

DRY: Fruity? Smells familiar to me though. After awhile sniffing, I realized this tea smells just like my favorite blueberry jam! Hmmm.. weird.

STEEPED: Peachy coppery brown tea – I love this colour! Still smells like blueberries. Annoying to me, I could not find steeping instructions. I did a 200f for 3 minutes, hopefully that is good enough.

TASTE: Bright and light black tea, bit of citrus tossed in. Very clean taste. The aroma of fruityness is lovely. At the end of my sip, a light astringency lightly sweeps in and quickly passes as the tea is gone.

WHO SHOULD TRY IT: Someone looking for a light black tea.

COMMENTS: Very nice ceylon tea, I haven’t had this kind of tea in awhile – probably the last time was in a coffee shop. This tea has a very sophisticated experience of good smells, pretty colour and nice light flavor. The astringency isn’t bad here as it’s a quick experience.

Maybe blueberry jam smells like black tea? I dunno.

Thanks Pekko Teas for the sample! It felt more like getting a gift than a tea sample with the tissue paper and gold packaging :P

Loved this tea – this is the third time I’ve made it. The second time I steeped it a bit too long and it got bitter — I think the sweet spot is definitely closer to the 3 1/2 min mark. It has a bit of the floral-y sweetness of a Darjeeling (I could call it muscatel but I would be lying if I said I knew exactly what that meant for the flavor). Definitely an afternoon tea for me – not quite as heavy as my Assams or Yunnan blacks – which today is a good thing.

I enjoyed this while working outside on my laptop and listening to variations on one of my favorite songs, Canon in D. Yay Friday!