High Grown Ceylon [OP] Tea

Simply put...

From the Indulgashinna Tea Garden, Uva Province, Sri Lanka. A bright, flavoursome, OP grade high grown Ceylon loose leaf tea.

This tea will be delivered in our new compostable packaging >> read more  here

In more depth...

Tea Name : High Grown Ceylon OP

Tea Maker : Gnanasekaran Rajaratnam [pictured below]

Origin : Idulgashinna, Nr Hatton, Sri Lanka

Size : 274 Hectares

Harvest Time : Throughout the year

Cultivar : CY9 and seedlings (small type leaf)

Grade : OP [Orange Pekoe]

Plucking standard : Two leaves and one bud

Processing : Withered, rolled, oxidised and fired

Experience : Full bodied, bright and invigorating.

Last visited by Comins : April 2016, Michelle & Rob Comins

How to prepare [Western Style]..

Amount of tea per bowl (200 ml): 2.5 g (1 tsp)

Water temperature: 100℃ / 212℉ 

Infusion / brewing time: 3 minutes

Number of infusions: 1

How to enjoy: No sugar, milk if desired.

Tales of the Tea Trade : Idulgashinna

Rob : Idulgashinna began life as a tea estate in 1984. It quickly became one of the pioneers of organic tea farming and was certified Organic back in 1989. This pioneering nature was further exemplified by it being categorised as Biodynamic since 1999. It has also acted under the Fairtrade banner since 1992. Read more about our trip to this garden on Comins blog.  On Robs last visit a missed train and an overheated car led to him making an interesting journey to the tea garden in a tuk-tuk [see below] to read the full story you will have to read our book Tales of the tea trade [or ask Rob over a cup of tea...]

Rob : Extract from our our book Tales of the tea trade :  

[...] Idulgashinna Garden is situated just below the famous Horton Plains in the Uva province in southeast Sri Lanka. This beautiful biodynamic garden is 1,000–2,000 metres in altitude.  The garden is made up of 274 hectares producing around 200 tonnes per year of some of the nest tea in Sri Lanka, plus 10 hectares producing 500 kilograms of coffee [...]

[...] Mr Gnanasekaran Rajaratnam is the garden’s manager [...]  He shared with us [....] 'we’ve found [..the organic and biodynamic approach...] very useful for controlling pest and insects, and quality [of leaf] has improved. Idulgashinna now offers comprehensive advisory and consultancy services for plantation and farms that want to implement the methods of biodynamic agriculture.’

To learn more about biodynamic farming you can click here to visit another garden operating in this way : Jamguri in Assam [or of course just ask at the Tea House]