Lover's Leap Estate Tea - Loose Leaf

The Lover's Leap Tea blend from English Tea Store is characterized by a delightful flavour that is astringent and lively. Lover's Leap, a western tea estate, is one of the best tea gardens in Sri Lanka. The best weather for producing quality tea is highlighted by cool nights, dry weather and bright sunny days.

These conditions force the tea bush to expend all its energies into the new growth leaves giving the tea its best flavour. During February and March, the cool moisture laden northeast monsoon winds after traveling across the Bay of Bengal 'hit' the island. The winds rise as they cross the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. As the air rises it cools and the moisture condenses giving rise to very wet conditions on the east side of the central divide, but dry and cool rain shadow conditions on the western side. Not surprisingly, the western tea estates peak in quality. The top elevations of Lover's Leap very often are in the clouds. Regularly when you are at the peak you look down onto the clouds with brilliant sunshine and blue sky above.

Lover's Leap received its name because situated on the estate is a cliff where lovers would throw themselves over if they were jilted or they were not allowed to marry one another.

How to Make Tea

Available in 3 sizes (Please select from the options above):

• First time trying English Tea Store's Lover's Leap Estate Loose Leaf Tea?

  Try our Sample Size of 1 ounce.
• Contents loose leaf tea net weight 4 ounces
• Contents loose leaf tea net weight 16 ounces (1 pound)

This tea is a true Orange Pekoe grade. Interestingly, the term Orange Pekoe has little to do with quality as it is a size grading term. Orange Pekoe in true tea jargon stands for whole leaf. When you pour boiling water on this tea, you will see how the leaf uncurls and expands quite dramatically, a process called 'the agony of the leaf'.

Caffeine content: Medium - This tea contains natural caffeine found in the L. Camellia Sinensis family. A cup of black tea steeped in boiled water for 5 minutes will contain between 27 to 35 milligrams of caffeine. An equal sized cup of coffee will contain between 80 - 100 milligrams of caffeine. Caffeine quickly becomes soluble in very hot water. If you wish to reduce the caffeine level in this tea, briefly rinsing the tea leaves in extremely hot water will reduce the caffeine content between 25-50% with only a minor effect on taste.

Antioxidant Content: High - The longer you steep your tea the more polyphenols will be extracted. (Test results based on 5 minutes steeping time. Polyphenol percentages may fluctuate with lot, grade of tea, testing method, temperature of water and freshness of tea). More antioxidants are extracted from tea (L. Camellia Sinesis) the longer it is brewed. And the more tea is used, the greater the antioxidant benefit.