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Loose Leaf Tea / Black Tea

Rare Afternoon Tea Loose Leaf Black Tea

Rare Afternoon Tea

18 reviews
$14.00
$0.00 $14.00
Sale Sold out

19p per cup

Style

A luxurious blend of black loose leaf teas, designed specifically to be enjoyed in the afternoon when a delicious pick-me-up is required.

Exquisite on its own; or as the perfect accompaniment to the great British tradition of sandwiches, scones and cakes.

Tasting Notes

There are notes of chocolate and a malty richness. With a short infusion you can find a silky subtlety with intense cacao aromas. With a longer extraction (and milk), the tea becomes creamier and the malty, milk chocolate flavours develop even further.

Cost Per Cup

19p per cup based on 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water and 2 infusions.

Origin

Jun Chiyabari tea garden, Dhankuta, Nepal
Satemwa Estate, Shire Highlands, Malawi

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Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water.

  • Temperature

    For the optimum infusion (without milk) use 85°C water.

    If you prefer milk, use 100°C water.

  • Time

    Infuse for 1 minute at 85°C, and 2 minutes at 100°C.

    Taste regularly to find your optimum time.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse this tea at least twice. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

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More infusion tips

How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, don’t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

Jun Chiyibari Tea Garden & Satemwa Estate

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This blend comes from the highest tea garden we work with – Jun Chiyabari right up in the foothills of the Nepali Himalayas; combined with rich leaves from Satemwa in the Shire Highlands of Malawi. These mountain teas combine ethereal elegance with great profundity and depth.

AFTERNOON TEA

A thoroughly British invention

Tea in the afternoon has been enjoyed for millennia. It would be almost inhuman not to long for a cup as the day ebbs. But what we now think of as the ritual of Afternoon Tea is a thoroughly British invention that arose in the middle of the 1800’s around wealthy aristocrats and their need of a boost, and to demonstrate their wealth and good taste.

AFTERNOON TEA

Showing off...

Tea was expensive and they had the good fortune to not need to work. So the afternoon became a time to show off; not just their wealth and good taste in being able to purchase tea, but having the leisure to enjoy it in the afternoon.

(For the working classes tea was taken in the evening, often with the evening meal- which is why in some parts of the UK, dinner is still called “tea”.)

Serving Suggestions

We recommend drinking this tea without milk if you are eating something sweet and creamy or buttery alongside it. The tradition has always been that the cream or butter and jam (on bread, crumpet, scone or a slice of Victoria Sponge) was there to have with your black tea to balance the bitter tannins. It’s the perfect flavour pairing. You only really need to put the milk in your Afternoon Tea if you don’t have something sweet and creamy to eat with it.

A piece of shortbread is also wonderful. A simple piece of good bread and butter is sublime.

Shipping, delivery & more...

Shipping Information

UK Shipping Rates
FREE UK Tracked when you spend £30 or more
FREE UK Express - Next Day* when you spend £60 or more
UK Tracked - Two Day Tracked £3.99
UK Express - Next Day* Tracked £5.49
UK Express - Next Day* Courier from £8.49

USA Shipping Rates
FREE DHL Tracked/DHL Plus Tracked when you spend $30 or more
DHL Tracked/Plus Tracked from £4.99
USPS Priority from £8.99
FedEx Home Delivery from £16.99

Europe Shipping Rates
FREE Europe Tracked when you spend £50 or more
Europe Tracked Delivery from £4.99
Europe Express Courier from £21.99

Canadian Shipping Rates*
FREE DHL International Tracked when you spend $40 CAD or more
DHL International Tracked from £5.99
FedEx Courier Delivery from £34.99

Worldwide Shipping Rates
FREE Worldwide Tracked when you spend £50 or more
Worldwide Tracked Delivery from £5.99
ROW Express Courier from £20.49

*Subject to next day cutoff and postcode location. Availability of rates depends on location and order weight. For a complete overview of our shipping rates please see our delivery page. All prices quoted in GBP and will be converted to your local currency if available.

IOSS for EU Orders

Rare Tea Company uses IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) for EU orders placed on the website.  We have enabled it for all EU orders from 15th February 2023.

How IOSS works and how it is applied on the website.

The IOSS scheme allows us to collect VAT during checkout on your behalf, meaning that no VAT is due when your order is assessed by your local authority.

  • If the combined value of the products in your cart are equal to or below €150 (excluding tax), VAT will be included at the point of sale and you should not be charged any fees when your order arrives.*
  • Once the €150 threshold is exceeded VAT will be removed from the items in your cart and from this point onwards when your order ships you will be liable for local VAT, duties and import fees.**

To avoid unnecessary import charges, keep your orders under €150 (excluding tax and shipping). Tax is included on all applicable products at Rare Tea - if your order is applicable for IOSS tax will be shown at the checkout.

Valid for IOSS

Not valid for IOSS

Your order confirmation and shipping confirmation emails will also confirm whether your order is valid for IOSS.

As with all complex shipping methods, the IOSS system isn't foolproof, and orders that are valid for IOSS are occasionally incorrectly charged VAT by customs.

If an order shipped via IOSS and that you have paid VAT on does get incorrectly assessed by customs, please don't worry. It's usually just a mistake that can be fixed by contacting customs and explaining that the order shipped via IOSS with VAT already paid.

If this does happen to you then we suggest the following:

  1. Please contact us before speaking to customs.
  2. We will double check that the order was valid for IOSS.
  3. We will provide a VAT receipt and a shipping label as evidence.
  4. Contact your local customs for assistance, using the shipping label as evidence.
  5. If all else fails we will attempt to get our shipping provider to investigate, but this process can take a while.

*Please note - this does not include any applicable duty charged when the item is cleared. Within the EU tea is free from duty, but your region might have a different rules for non-tea items such as tins and teaware. Any duty charged is payable by you, the customer before delivery via your local customs authority.
**In special cases where custom fees have been unexpected we have retroactively refunded these in select cases. As of the 15th February 2023 (the start of IOSS) we have discontinued this process.

What is IOSS?

The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is the electronic portal businesses can use since 1 July 2021 to comply with their VAT e-commerce obligations on distance sales of imported goods.

Up until the 1st July 2021, no import VAT has to be paid for commercial goods of a value up to EUR 22. New VAT eCommerce rules abolished this provision as of 1st July 2021. Thus, from 1 July 2021, all commercial goods imported into the EU from a third country or third territory is subject to VAT irrespective of their value.

What is IOSS for?

IOSS allows suppliers and electronic interfaces selling imported goods to buyers in the EU to collect, declare and pay the VAT to the tax authorities, instead of making the buyer pay the VAT at the moment the goods are imported into the EU as it was previously the case (for products over 22 EUR).

What are the advantages of IOSS?

IOSS facilitates the collection, declaration and payment of VAT for sellers making distance sales of imported goods to buyers in the EU. The IOSS also makes the process easier for the buyer, who is only charged at the time of purchase, and therefore does not face any surprise fees when the goods are delivered. If the seller is not registered in the IOSS, the buyer has to pay the VAT and usually a customs clearance fee charged by the transporter.

What countries does IOSS apply to?

IOSS applies to the EU member states of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

It does not apply to the EEA.

How much tax will I get charged?

Tax will be charged at the base VAT rate of the shipping country.

Full details of IOSS can be found on the European Comission website.

Any questions? Please get in touch!

Send us a message using the form below, or call +44 (0) 207 681 0115 (9am - 5pm GMT, Monday - Friday).

 

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