Kenmare FBOP, Estate Grown Ceylon Black Tea is a classic example of the best of Ceylon tea. Grown at 6800 feet, this well-made leaf with ‘bloom’ yields a flavorful, astringent cup with superb point. Kenmare is highly sought after by traders for its outstanding liquor, bright character & highly flavorful cup.
Ingredients:Artisan black tea
Origin: Sri Lanka
Recognized as ‘Estate of the Year’ in 2002. Kenmare, for those of you who’ve visited Ireland, is a name usually associated with a town in County Kerry. In fact, the town was the birthplace of one of the pioneering planters of Kenmare tea. While Kenmare is correctly labeled an estate tea, the name does not actually refer to the estate on which it is produced. Rather, Kenmare is a sales mark of Concordia Estate, also named after a town in the British Isles. The estate is situated in the Nuwara Eliya district of Sri Lanka, near Piduruthalagala, the country’s tallest mountain. The gardens there are known for producing two levels of tea. Without intending to sound facetious, these are high quality and exceptionally high quality. As it is, the exceptionally high quality product is Kenmare with the merely high quality product going under the sales mark Hethersett, named after a town in Scotland. (Noticed a trend yet? The UK based names, combined with the cool wet climate of the Sri Lankan hill country, gave birth to the region’s colloquial name of Little England.)
Concordia was first planted in 1954 at an elevation of 6800 feet above sea level. In recent years, annual production has reached roughly 1,500,000 pounds of finished tea – enough for about 272 million cups! The estate’s best, read Kenmare, is grown between January to March when the weather is sunny, and cool and July to September when the estate is peppered by westerly winds originating on the eastern plains of Sri Lanka. In 2002, largely based on its Kenmare offering, Concordia was named Sri Lanka’s Estate of the Year. The Kenmare offering also led to an approval by the Fair Trade Labeling Organization. As for the world markets, Kenmare is highly sought after by traders for its outstanding liquor, bright character and highly flavorful cup. In the same way that you simply can’t buy a poor quality official Swiss Gruyère, appellation controlled Bordeaux or Chianti Classico, you won’t find a bad cup of Kenmare. The next time your guests ask for the best, reach for it!
Water Temperature: Just off the Boil (205 degrees)
Water Quality: Best with Spring Water
Amount of Leaf (per 6 fl oz water): 1 tsp. to 1 Tbl.(2.5 grams)
Steep Time: 2--4 minutes
Number of Infusions: 1
When measuring it is best to weigh your tea. (I use a small pocket scale. We have a few or you can get good inexpensive scales at Old Will Knotts) Measuring volume with a teaspoon or tablespoon is not accurate because whole leaf teas take up much more space than broken, graded teas.
We highly recommend brewing your tea in a teapot or mug with a removable infuser so that you can remove the leaves at the end of the steeping time. Whole leaf teas of this quality need room to unfurl and expand in the water in order to perform their "magic." However, leaving the tea leaves in the water will result in an over-infused, bitter tea. If you want a stronger cup of tea increase the amount of leaf rather than the steeping time. If you don't have a removable infuser, you can brew the loose leaves directly in the pot. At the end of the steeping time, pour all of the tea into a warm serving pitcher or pot.
