Ceylon seems to have fallen out of fashion lately. Look around any number of tea blogs and youâ??ll find most people talking about either China teaâ??green, black, Pu-ehr, oolongâ??or Assam and Darjeeling. Which is rather suprising when you think that Sri Lanka is one of the most extraordinary tea countries in the world. They have even been keeping up with the green trend, producing several good green Ceylons, and have come up with an unbelievably expensive white to beat all whites.

But I am rather old fashioned at heart. For me, Ceylon remains very much a black tea that, like mountain air, becomes increasingly aromatic and rarefied as elevation increases. Ceylon tea was a masterstroke of Victorian growers, who spotted the weather and altitude opportunities the country offered and introduced the bushes here in the second half of the 19th century. One of the first districts they planted was Dimbula, on the western side of Sri Lankaâ??s tea growing region, so it seemed fitting to start my Ceylon tour from there.

I brewed one heaped teaspoon of Dimbula Orange Pekoe from Special Teas for 3 minutes, It yielded a pretty, golden red cup with a lightly fruity aroma. It tasted sweet throughout with just a very subtle hint of mild astringency in the end. It was very smooth and I definitely found it more sweet and fruity than chocolatey/citrusy, which is how Special Teas pitches it. It was a decent, serviceable tea, but its lack of complexity left me ever so slightly unsatisfied. An Elizabeth Vigée Lebrun.