Royal World is a brand found in Arabic stores. It is a high end brand
in the sense it is more expensive than the others. My favorite black
Ceylon tea was their Kalmi OP1 which dried up years ago. I've been
disappointed in Ceylon green teas from other brands. This one
appeared recently. It is like the curlyque shape you see from China.
Not a typical Pekoe machine grade. It has an almost harsh heavy green
taste with smokey cigar like overtones from dried and infused leaf
which is distinctive. A tasty little brew. Something I wouldn't
expect from Ceylon.

Jim

Hi Jim, that does sound tasty indeed )

A Ceylon Green I recently tasted while in Sri Lanka was from my
favourite grower Dilmah who have a great premium line called t-series.
The one you should definately try and taste is thier new 'Ceylon Whole
Leaf Green Tea', this years release though, which I think may differ a
little from last years in that it is described as having a smokiness
to it in the tasting notes below...

" Dark mottled greens, brow-blacks and blue-ash colours were found in
the loose leaf with a good twist tending to be knotty. The infused
leaf is open semi leaf of a khaki-green-red colour. In Taste, this
golden orange, green tinged tea offers a pointed smokiness in aroma.
In the mouth, there is a ripe Brazillian nut flavour allied with a
hint of sweetness. Then one senses the chewy tannins. Altogether a
superb Ceylon tea of bold and persuasive demeanour. "

It may not be as smoky as the Royal World tea you noted but hope it
helps point you to something else to try

p.s. they do have a website for the t-series at http://t-series.dilmah.com
but this I believe is going to be replaced shortly with a new release
site... (By the way I don't work for them... I'm a huge fan but I am
looking at selling this line in my country.)

Jon )

Thanks for backing me up on the smokiness. I thought maybe it was
just me. I'll back you up on the chewy tannins. I've had Dilmah in
the past and disappointed. I will say they were the teabags. I have
some loose somewhere just haven't got around to it. I notice all the
brands are adding a Premium line.

Jim

On Apr 6, 1:29 am, "jonny kane" > wrote:
> Hi Jim, that does sound tasty indeed )
>
> A Ceylon Green I recently tasted while in Sri Lanka was from my
> favourite grower Dilmah who have a great premium line called t-series.
> The one you should definately try and taste is thier new 'Ceylon Whole
> Leaf Green Tea', this years release though, which I think may differ a
> little from last years in that it is described as having a smokiness
> to it in the tasting notes below...
>
> " Dark mottled greens, brow-blacks and blue-ash colours were found in
> the loose leaf with a good twist tending to be knotty. The infused
> leaf is open semi leaf of a khaki-green-red colour. In Taste, this
> golden orange, green tinged tea offers a pointed smokiness in aroma.
> In the mouth, there is a ripe Brazillian nut flavour allied with a
> hint of sweetness. Then one senses the chewy tannins. Altogether a
> superb Ceylon tea of bold and persuasive demeanour. "
>
> It may not be as smoky as the Royal World tea you noted but hope it
> helps point you to something else to try
>
> p.s. they do have a website for the t-series athttp://t-series.dilmah.com
> but this I believe is going to be replaced shortly with a new release
> site... (By the way I don't work for them... I'm a huge fan but I am
> looking at selling this line in my country.)
>
> Jon )

Yeah I love that description 'Chewy Tannins' )

Indeed I'm glad there are more premium lines coming about, as long as
they are actually premium quality and not just 'value added'
packaging. While I agree their teabags will never be quite the same as
loose leaf I think they definitely stand out by miles in comparison to
other teabags in the mass market, many of which smell like crusty old
socks or cardboard! I think it's mainly due to how fresh their tea is,
even in teabags... and I can totally vouch for that having seen the
process on a tour of their factory recently... very high standard.
What I think makes them really stand out is that they do it all
themselves because they are the grower, the processor and the
packager... the tea once picked doesn't sit around losing freshness
passing through numerous middlemen before final packaging and
shipping.

I'd be quite interested to know of other tea growers who do this, I'm
sure they are out there if someone can point to a few as I imagine
they are not many, especially those who export internationally.

I've tried so many other specialty teas imported and sold through
specialty traders and I just find that although very nice they often
lack a special something, a certain complexity that I've found in the
t-series tea... and I'm sure it comes down to freshness.

I've gotta say now that even though I'm a Dilmah fan I've become
spoilt with their premium t-series range and though I can still
appreciate their mass market range I find it hard to go back to
nowadays! )

Ah all this talk of tea... time for another cuppa.

Jon









On Apr 7, 3:21 am, "Space Cowboy" > wrote:
> Thanks for backing me up on the smokiness. I thought maybe it was
> just me. I'll back you up on the chewy tannins. I've had Dilmah in
> the past and disappointed. I will say they were the teabags. I have
> some loose somewhere just haven't got around to it. I notice all the
> brands are adding a Premium line.
>
> Jim

I have a friend who taught in Kenya her whole career. She told me how
she use to lounge around in the local packaging plant on Saturday when
activity was at a minimum. She said the smell would put her to
sleep. She never spent a nickel on tea. Just what she picked up from
a friend who worked at the plant. She now gets her tea shipped from
Kenya. There is a Celestial Seasonings packaging plant way way across
town from me. I worked in a canning factory during my college
summers. Nothing is better than fresh. Okay on hot days fresh
produce stinks.

Jim

On Apr 10, 12:22 am, "jonny kane" > wrote:
> Yeah I love that description 'Chewy Tannins' )
>
> Indeed I'm glad there are more premium lines coming about, as long as
> they are actually premium quality and not just 'value added'
> packaging. While I agree their teabags will never be quite the same as
> loose leaf I think they definitely stand out by miles in comparison to
> other teabags in the mass market, many of which smell like crusty old
> socks or cardboard! I think it's mainly due to how fresh their tea is,
> even in teabags... and I can totally vouch for that having seen the
> process on a tour of their factory recently... very high standard.
> What I think makes them really stand out is that they do it all
> themselves because they are the grower, the processor and the
> packager... the tea once picked doesn't sit around losing freshness
> passing through numerous middlemen before final packaging and
> shipping.
>
> I'd be quite interested to know of other tea growers who do this, I'm
> sure they are out there if someone can point to a few as I imagine
> they are not many, especially those who export internationally.
>
> I've tried so many other specialty teas imported and sold through
> specialty traders and I just find that although very nice they often
> lack a special something, a certain complexity that I've found in the
> t-series tea... and I'm sure it comes down to freshness.
>
> I've gotta say now that even though I'm a Dilmah fan I've become
> spoilt with their premium t-series range and though I can still
> appreciate their mass market range I find it hard to go back to
> nowadays! )
>
> Ah all this talk of tea... time for another cuppa.
>
> Jon
> On Apr 7, 3:21 am, "Space Cowboy" > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Thanks for backing me up on the smokiness. I thought maybe it was
> > just me. I'll back you up on the chewy tannins. I've had Dilmah in
> > the past and disappointed. I will say they were the teabags. I have
> > some loose somewhere just haven't got around to it. I notice all the
> > brands are adding a Premium line.
>
> > Jim- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Hi Jim, checked out 'Celestial Seasonings' they look pretty cool...
was impressed to see one of the first links in a google search was to
a listing on one of my favourites sites 'Lovemarks' having read the
book www.lovemarks.com - in fact I won a prize on the site for my
enthusiastic comments on Dilmahs plight against commoditization, won a
collectable art print 'Tea Towel'! Yay ) But had a quick browse
through the Celestial Seasonings site too... very fun and colourful...
much like thier blends I guess.

What I'm really hoping to see in the near future, and what I'm really
going to try and promote with my eventual entry into importing and
promoting fine tea is 'Single Estate' and 'Single Region' Tea. Call me
a bit old fashioned but it's a bit like a single malt whiskey opposed
to a blended... I love the purity of knowing where the leaf came from,
the traceable quality of it.

20 Years ago here in NZ we only knew wine as Red, White & Sparkling!
Now we are a country of wine fanatics... every man, woman and her dog
likes to be able to spout their knowledge of the wine regions, the
grapes and which wines they like and dislike...

I want to harness that passion and grow the awareness that tea is just
as sophisticated... it may take another 10 years but it's going to be
a fun task.

Jon )