This Irish Breakfast tea is decaffeinated in the green leaf to give a malty tea taste. Per capita, Irish consumption of tea is amongst the highest in the world. The Irish prefer a full bodied cup of tea that if brewed long enough one could almost stand their spoon upright. The strength is achieved by buying the best teas available from seasonal production periods in Assam and Kenya. This means that the Assam teas are from the second flush period during June, and the Kenyas are from February and August growth. 2nd flush Assam teas give a deep malty astringency and the best make your mouth feel dry because they are so astringent. This astringency leads to a malty character that is almost so thick you feel like you could chew it. The seasonal Kenyas have a golden coppery color with an almost floral note that give a complex depth to the tea. Furthermore, you will see that the grade is CTC - cut, torn curled. The green leaf whilst it is being processed passes through a machine that cuts, tears and then curls the leaves into tiny balls. This mash ferments very quickly after which firing takes place to lock-in the flavor. These tiny tea balls when infused release their full flavor, more so than whole leaf tea. The reason is that there is more surface area on the tiny balls which can infuse as compared to the whole leaf tea.
All decafs sold at Tea Laden are processed using the Co2 Process. The advantage of this decaffeination process is that no chemical solvents are used to remove the caffeine. Also, using the naturally occurring Co2 in a circulation process which carefully uses high pressure and temperature to extract the caffeine, the origin distinct character of the tea is retained in the cup. |
Very Fine Leaves
