When I opened the pouch to inhale the dry leaf aroma of this morning’s tea, I felt like I had just opened a bag of semi-sweet chocolate bits. You know the kind you use to make toll house cookies. I have many wonderful memories of mixing up batches of cookie battah (said in my Mom’s Brooklyn accent) on rainy afternoons and then eating the cookies warm and gooey right out of the oven. It isn’t raining today, in fact, we are having a “January thaw” here in New England with temps climbing into the mid 50s by Tuesday. As with all weather experiences here, it won’t last for long so we will savor the moments of mild springlike temps while we can.

Dumbara estate Green Curls, this green tea is from the Kandy district of Sri Lanka, known by its old world name of Ceylon in tea company. The dry leaf is a dark green which lightens up to its true color after the leaves are steeped for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water. This would be the perfect green tea for someone wanting to try green tea but unfamiliar with its vegetal notes and light body.

The liquor looks like a Darjeeling with its gorgeous amber color. The flavor is strong with interesting fruity notes. The vegetal quality is very subtle, unlike a Chinese or Japanese green tea. I wish I had known about this tea the other day when I was talking with a customer who gave her candid opinion of green tea as tasting like “dirty dish water”. Well, I’ve never sampled dirty dish water myself but I think she was probably saying that she thinks green tea is too light for her. As I recall, she was an Assam lover.

So, if you are strictly a black tea lover, this would be a good first choice to start your journey into the green tea category.