Name; Dark Fired Malawi 2011
Type; Black, Africa, Malawi, OP 1
Price; £ 3.20 for 50 grams from Anteaques.
http://anteaques.co.uk/blacktea/darkfiredmalawiPrice; £ 3.20 for 50 grams from Anteaques.
Brewing; 4 grams for .6 litres, 3:30 minutes at 100 degrees.
Review; Africa is perhaps the newest and biggest
player in the tea world. Most everyone
has had an African black tea and simply not known it. Most tea bag tea can trace its origins, or
some of their origins to Africa. Kenya
is the number 3 tea producer of the world (FAO 2010), following China and then
India. Malawi accounts for roughly only
1.5% of the world’s tea production at spot number 14, however as the world of
tea knows, small is sometimes better.
This Malawi tea has beautiful toasted caramel notes,
sultanas and raisins, burnt citrus rind, and iron are all characteristics. Africa is responsible for taking much of the Ceylon
tea market away (when the Ceylon tea board doesn’t drive its customers away
like it did back in the 90’s when it advocated the CTC, or better known in
recent years when the scandal of importing African teas and then re-labeling
them as Ceylon).
What I particularly enjoy about this tea is the long whole
leaf nature of it. One can see how this
tea does compete with the Orange Pekoe that Sri Lanka became so famous for, and
won. Mild tannins and now astringency also
serve this tea well.
A new take on a classic tea!
Enjoy
-Tea Fan
