Kenya Black OP Malaika
Kenya Black OP Malaika
Kenya, a country in East Africa, is known worldwide for its wildlife reserves, its lofty mountain peaks, and the high quality offerings from the country's tea gardens and coffee plantations. Kenya tea is a main staple in Irish and English tea blends, and for years it was mostly produced for the tea bag trade. For the past 10 years or so, the Kenya tea producers have been focusing on more orthodox producing to create high quality large leaf style teas.
This tea is from the Malaika tea factory serving 680 small-scale tea farmers in Kenya. The factory is located just south of the Mt Kenya National Park at an elevation of 5446 ft (1660m) above sea level. In the Swahili language, Malaika means Angel.
The beautifully medium (OP) black twisted leaves contain some marvelous looking tippy leaves of various white & golden hues producing a bright amber cup with a heady aroma. The tea has a strong, full-bodied taste with delicious citral tones.
Brew tea at 212º - steep for 3 minutes.
Kenya teas are excellent breakfast teas and also pair well with eggs, beef dishes, desserts, chocolate and breads.
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This tea has a pleasant, firm flavor both by itself and also good with half-and as well. Ive enjoyed it as something different than my favorite Ceylon or Indian black teas. Ill also mention that I enjoyed sharing this tea with others who hadnt yet tried an African tea. Their reactions were consistently positive.
I am not what most would call a "tea-drinker". I switched from coffee to tea about 2 months ago and have been exploring green and black teas, exclusively, for their medicinal benefits as I had a mild heart-attack 5 months ago. I am led to believe that most of these teas do promote lower blood pressure and even some boosted immune system properties, as well as other health benefits that I'm still researching. But, if this Vietnam imperial Oolong provides 1/4 the health benefits that I've been told, it's STILL a WIN-WIN. I've never had a cup of tea SO DARN DELICIOUS! I'm going to have to get 3 jobs to afford it, unfortunately.
I am very impressed with Vietnamese teas. This oolong has a lovely light flavor and fragrance. This is definitely one I will order again.
The tea leaves have a lovely, almost fruity aroma. The tea is robust, but not harsh. Especially without milk (or the like) it has a bit of a woodsy flavour, with a bright ('citral') finish as noted in the description. It does not like to be steeped too long, so I ended up setting a clock rather than eyeballing it. A very pleasant tea if you like it on the robust side.