I'm trying to diversify a bit from Chinese teas, so when I found the only tea grown in Europe, I jumped on it! There's a bit of a catch here, it's not from the European mainland - Gorreana Estate is on the Azores. The Azores are technically part of Portugal, but they're islands way out in the mid-Atlantic, pretty much halfway to Newfoundland! Frankly, I think that makes this tea's origin even more interesting.
This pekoe is a second-flush black tea, with large dark twisted leaves. There are a few twigs and broken leaves in there, but the leaves look quite nice and have a honeyed raisin aroma.
The liquor is a deep, ruby mahogany with a slightly sulphuric aroma of plums and honey. The taste is similar to a Ceylon black tea, with a slightly floral vanilla sweetness. There's very little astringency and a fresh and bright aftertaste. It's really quite nice and pleasant, and very good quality - I'd definitely like to try some of their other teas!
Black Pekoe at Gorreana Teas
How fascinating. I've never heard of this place before but their tea sounds good to me!
ReplyDeleteI had always assumed that there would have been some sort of small-scale tea cultivation on the European mainland (sort of like how there's some in United States), so I was surprised to find out that it's only in the Azores!
DeleteAnd yeah, it's definitely a lot better quality than I was expecting!