Ceylon black tea forms the base here, dressed up with rose, safflower and cornflower petals and a natural peach flavouring — the kind of blend that looks as good steeped as it tastes. The tasting notes lean sweet and fruity: rose and lemon up front, ripe peach and a broader tropical fruit character underneath, with honey sweetness balanced by malt and a faint coffee note. In the cup it pours a coppery, light-toned liquor.
Ceylon tea itself has an unusual origin. It grew out of catastrophe: in 1869 a fungal disease called coffee-rust wiped out Ceylon's coffee industry and, with it, much of the island's economy. A Scotsman named James Taylor had already been experimenting with tea planting at his Loolecondera estate, and that early work became the foundation for what grew into the Ceylon tea industry. More than 120,000 hectares of dead coffee bushes were cleared to make way for tea. The transformation was striking enough that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about it, describing the tea fields of Ceylon as a monument to the courage it took to rebuild an economy from a ruined crop.
To brew this one iced, use about two teaspoons per person and pour freshly boiled water over the leaves, just enough to cover them, then steep for three to five minutes. Strain, top up with cold water and ice, and add any extras you like — a spoon of honey, a squeeze of lemon, or a few tropical touches to echo the peach. It is packed fresh to order by Tea & Coffee at their factory in Kent, in the southeast of England.