Grade names in Ceylon tea can tell you a lot before you even open the packet, and OP1 (Orange Pekoe 1) means the leaf was left to unfurl fully before picking rather than taken at the bud, so the leaves here run larger than a Flowery Orange Pekoe and rarely carry any tip. Workers at the Lumbini Estate, in Sri Lanka's Ruhunu growing district, wait for that stage on purpose: the resulting orthodox loose leaf brews thick and full-bodied, with a smooth character underneath the strength. Expect plum up front, with fruity, lemon and orange top notes, a run of honey, and something toward milk and coffee beneath, the whole thing finishing smooth rather than harsh. In the cup it runs coppery with reddish highlights, lighter in tone than the body suggests.
The estate dates to 1975, when Dayapala Jayawardana planted his first tea field in the Lumbini valley, wanting to make a tea that reflected the character of the Ruhunu district itself. Nine years later he opened a factory to process it, and the results were good enough that growers nearby started chasing the same standard. His son Chaminda took over most of the estate's production in 2000, and by 2006 he had carried Lumbini tea onto the global market.
Ceylon only turned to tea after coffee rust wiped out the island's coffee economy in 1869. A Scotsman, James Taylor, had already put in 19 acres of tea at his Loolecondera estate in Kandy, and by 1872 he had a working factory and his first sale behind him. Tea spread across the island from there, and anything sold as Ceylon tea today still has to meet the Sri Lanka Tea Board's quality standards.
Black teas like this one have long been drunk as a brisk, fortifying cup as much as for flavour, and that reputation holds here too, though it's the taste that's worth brewing for. Use freshly boiled water and infuse for three to five minutes. It takes milk and sugar well, honey or lemon suit it too, and it holds up served black if you want the fruit notes on their own. Tea & Coffee is the shop currently stocking this particular batch.
