Nina's Teas USA, Ceylon

Nina's Teas USA Description:
A copper gold coloured and aromatic tea, this Ceylon comes from the south of Sri Lanka. A tea that will marvelously accompany any moment of the day

Sample provided by Nina's Teas USA

My Review:
Have I ever had a straight up cup of Ceylon? Hmmmm. Surely I must have, but none come to mind. Ceylon is the base of most Earl Grey teas I drink, so it is not like we are strangers. We are more like casual acquaintances. Maybe it is time we got to know each other a little better.

I opened the sample and inhaled. It isn't revealing a lot. I get light tobacco leaf from the experience. The leaf itself is very finely cut. I almost used a Finum basket thinking this might pass through the mesh of my press. Sanity or the challenge kicked in and I used the French press and boiling water. The steep was, well, as long as it took to toast a bagel. For this tea to pass the audition it has to stand up to a breakfast bagel.

The brew is dark and the nose is sweet and lightly fruity. My first sip was tea. OK brain, time to wake up. The second sip is, at first, light and flows or flutters down to a more toasty level.  There is some sweetness. There is a note that makes me think green leaves. There is a fruitiness that reminds me of Darjeeling. At the end it rises up against the sides of the tongue in just a touch of astringency. It does not grab your throat like some Assam breakfast teas. This is a smooth tea with no grit.

Nina's flavored teas have all been so successful in their quality. I wasn't sure how they could maintain that level of excellence with a CTC Ceylon - but they have succeeded. This is a very nice tea. It stood its ground against the cream cheese and bagel without either suffering in the combination. So this tastes very good on its own. It works well with others. Yep, it passed the audition.

Nina's Paris has been blending masterful fragrances for 300 years. They have brought this mastery to their USA tea line. You can currently find their offerings on Amazon. They plan to open an ecommerce webstore at ninasteastore.