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Rare Afternoon Tea Loose Leaf Black Tea

20 reviews
£7.49
£0.00 £7.49
£0.19 per cup
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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

£0.19 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...

UK Shipping Information

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

*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.

Returns

The Rare Tea Lady believes that our teas are some of the greatest in the world, and that our range and service are second to none.

In the isolated case that you are not completely satisfied with any product you purchase from our website, please get in contact with our customer services team to discuss returning your order.*

In most instances, we will give you a full refund of the item's cost, excluding postage. We may ask you to return the item to us.** Customers in the UK & European Union have statutory rights not affected by this guarantee, but any bags of tea must remained sealed for this to be in effect.

*We only accept returns/refunds for tea within 30 days of receipt, because it is impossible for us to know if the tea has been stored correctly.

**We will endeavour to ask for pictures where possible - but if you have changed your mind and are outside of any statutory rights time period, return postage is payable by you.

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