Tea tasting with Kenneth Congreve

Saturday, 23 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Tashiya De Mel Tea time has always been my favourite time of the day. Be it milk, plain, ginger, green, chai or iced. The tastes are endless. Although simply grown and harvested, tea is a drink full of flavour complexities and nuances. It is an inherent part of Sri Lankan culture. Yet, facets about its nature and origins remain unknown to most.

A lil’ bit of history Coffee was widely grown throughout the hills before tea made any appearance. However, a devastating blight in 1869 destroyed the majority of coffee plantations and the country was forced to diversify into new crops. Tea is not indigenous to Sri Lanka. Although it had been grown previously, it was James Taylor who first introduced commercial tea plantations in the 1860s. Following in his footsteps, Sir Thomas Lipton developed the tea industry even further. It is now one of the primary exports in Sri Lanka. Tea guru Kenneth Congreve is an expert on the topic. Kenneth is a fourth generation planter and thus, the ideal person to guide us on the process of tea tasting. The procedure for the tasting is very specific. 2.8 grams of tea leaves are immersed in 140 ml of water and brewed for exactly six minutes. No more, no less. Tea bags usually contain between 2 to 2.5 g of tea leaves so, what we tasted was much stronger than your average cuppa tea. The tasting process Tea is delicately scooped up with a large spoon and noisily slurped. This is done so that both the tea and oxygen pass over all the taste receptors on the tongue, giving an even taste profile of the tea. The tea is then spat back out into a spittoon (a large cylindrical apparatus with a hole in the centre) before moving onto the next sample. Kenneth makes a vital distinction between Up country and Low country tea leaves. Topography, climatic conditions and manufacturing processes all affect the flavour and appearance of the tea leaves produced. This explains why they taste so different. We begin with Low country leaves which are bigger, darker, stronger. These leaves have a malty flavour to them. Up country tea leaves (grown above an altitude of 4,500 feet) are the finest and most delicately flavoured. They are lighter in colour and the leaves are much smaller. Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF), one of the most sought after teas are produced in Up country plantations. Kenneth points out subtleties in the taste which may not be too obvious to a regular person but are easily picked up by an expert. Although I was hardly an expert on the tasting process, I was beginning to identify the contrasting tastes of the Up country vs. Low country leaves. The mild Up country leaves were definitely my preferred option.

Why tea tastings? The tasting experience will allow you to refine your tastes and broaden your knowledge on the topic, whist having fun in the process. (Trekurious together with DailyFT explores Sri Lanka for the curious traveller. Trekurious works with talented individuals and great brands to create amazing experiential tours, activities, and events in Sri Lanka. You can find out more at www.Trekurious.com.)