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Cumulus & Cirrus Cloud Teas Loose Leaf Black Tea

Cumulus & Cirrus Cloud Teas

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Cumulus and Cirrus, two first flush black teas from Lakyrsiew, are a truly delicious way we can share a little of the joy we’ve had tasting teas this season.

Usually, when choosing a new harvest of a beloved tea we taste a spread of samples, picked over certain days from certain fields. Sometimes we select a single day’s pick from one field, or it could be a blend of a few days’ harvest, or fields, to find the best expression of the flavour we all know and love (and often can't live without). Cumulus or Cirrus would make a wonderful new release in their own right, blended they are also sublime. Still beaming with the early spring in Meghalaya and drenched with the character of this unique farm these are both stunning teas.

This year we decided to let you into the fun of the tasting process - by comparing teas that are so similar on the surface, yet subtly and wonderfully different.

Season, terroir, varietal, cultivar, pruning cycle, bush age, leaf age or picking ‘round’, oxidation level, withering, rolling, crafting - these all explain something of how two teas picked just nine days apart, from adjacent fields, might differ.

Pouch bundle contains 1 x 25g Pouch Cumulus Tea, 1 x 25g Pouch Cirrus Tea. Tin Bundle contains 1 x 25g Pouch Cumulus Tea, 1 x 25g Pouch Cirrus Tea, 2 x storage tins.

Tasting Notes

Cumulus - The first infusion is rich with heady aromas - raspberry and rose. The flavours develop to a gentle burnt caramel note and a delicate trace of cardamon and sesame. Cirrus - The first infusion is beautifully light, with notes of pea shoots, leading to sesame snaps and macadamia in later infusions. Bright floral aromas; elegant natural sweetness and low tannins.

Origin

Lakyrsiew Tea Garden, Meghalaya, India

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Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water.

  • Temperature

    For the optimum infusion use 85°C water.

  • Time

    Infuse for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, tasting regularly.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse these teas at least three times. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

1 3

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).

  • CUMULUS

    Picked: 2nd April 2024
    Cultivars: AV2 with BB157

    Raspberry and rose. Later a gentle burnt caramel note, cardamon and sesame.

  • CIRRUS

    Picked: 11th April 2024
    Cultivars: AV2 with T78

    Pea shoots, with sesame snaps and macadamia in later infusions.

1 2

Cumulus

  • AV2 is described by Boris Linnebank Sawian at Lakyrsiew as the ‘cream’ of the Darjeeling cultivars, and is found in some of the most famous teas of that region.
  • BB157 is another cultivar developed on the famous estates in Darjeeling. BB157 is particularly high in geraniol, which is a chemical also found in geraniums and lemons, and is used in the perfume industry to approximate a swath of different fruits.
  • The bushes are from an unpruned section planted in 2012, the youngest bushes on the farm. The leaves were plucked on a five day round, meaning the leaf was five days old and very small and tender.
  • The leaves were plucked on a very warm and dry day. This was following a particularly dry winter, however the stress on the bushes is good for flavour, it intensifies the character of the tea.
  • A hard wither down to 70% moisture content and minimal oxidation has allowed the tea to retain a lot more of its green colour.

Cirrus

  • If AV2 is the ‘cream’ of darjeeling cultivars, then T78 is the backbone. "This is a classic Darjeeling combination but the unique conditions in our garden make it a very different tea" - Boris Lynnebank Sawian.
  • These bushes are from older sections of the farm, planted in 2004 and 2005, but again the leaves were picked on a five day round. In dry conditions you get much slower growth, so this is a very small and tender pick.
  • These leaves were also picked on a warm and dry day, and of course following the same winter as the Cumulus. This stress is a major reason for the intensity of flavour.
  • Cirrus was crafted in a similar way to Cumulus, with a hard wither and minimal oxidation preserving a lot of green in the leaf.

ABODE OF CLOUDS

The best of both worlds

In the local dialect Meghalaya is called "the Abode of Clouds" so we call this Cloud Tea. It lies between Assam and Darjeeling and this tea really has the best of both. Light and floral as a Darjeeling with the rich caramel and malty notes you get from the best Assam.

This tiny garden produces tea in very small amounts because their concern is always quality over volume.

METICULOUS CRAFTING

Delicate and graceful

The tea is meticulously crafted to keep the beautiful leaves whole. This tender crafting allows the leaves to retain a delicacy and softness that is very rare in black teas.

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

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Europe Express Courier from £21.99

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FedEx Courier Delivery from £34.99

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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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