Shan Valley Black Tea

Shan Valley Tea Company in East New Jersey sells a large number of different tea products from tea growers in the Shan plateau of Myanmar. These are all over the map and we got a number of samples from them and did a somewhat less precise set of tasting sessions before selecting some black ones for the Burmese tea tasting site on the main page. There was no blind testing and no panel, this was just me drinking a few cups of tea without milk over the course of a couple weeks and writing down my basic thoughts.

I would like to say that all of these teas have some of the smoky "wild tea" flavour or scent in some way but none of them were very strong and that taste was not distinguishing. None of these teas seem to have order numbers of SKUs and the names on the packages are quite similar so be careful if you order.

Orange Pekoe

This is a very fine cup of tea, with a citrus flavour combined with some of the smoky "wild tea" flavour. Good balance of tannins. This is an excellent tea for drinking without milk. Gets more astringent in the second steep.

Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe

From the name you would expect this to be a higher grade of the OP above, but it has quite a different flavour. The citrus scent is not in evidence and a sweetness and maltiness has replaced it. Even so, the "wild tea" flavour remains to remind you that this isn't an assam tea. Excellent for drinking without milk but I think it might stand up to milk in the cup if you are of that sort. A second steep is less astringent and very mellow.

First Flush Black: Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings

So, this is a first flush OP tea, but it's not available in a normal grading, but only as fannings. I expected this to be a step up, being a first flush tea, but the end result is very different than the OP teas above. It's stronger as one would expect from fannings, but much flatter-tasting. You could make teabags from this but the fine powder is not so great for use as loose tea. Might possibly be intended for drinking with milk but it is hard to tell for sure.

Black Tea

No other indication about what this is other than merely ~Black Tea." Finely ground to the fannings level, likely with the intention of being sold for making tea bags. This is somewhat flat tasting but inoffensive, and it has a very small amount of the "wild tea" flavour. A nice flowery nose in the package but it is lost in the cup. This isn't very tannic and could be drunk with or without milk. This is a perfectly drinkable everyday cup.

Shan Black Tea

No other indication about what this is other than merely ~Shan Black Tea." Not to be confused with the "Black Tea" above. This tastes like burlap, and has very little real flavour to it. It is ground to the level of fannings also. I cannot recomend this.

First Flush Black CTC Tea

This is a typical CTC tea; rather flat and without a lot of nose to it, but very rapid steeping and a strong liquor. This is also available in bags, and the basic flavour is very much the same for the loose and bagged versions. This tastes like a commodity tea made for the British market and that's a hard market to compete in because there are so many other cheap teas out there. Why take your best leaves and then CTC them to eliminate the subtlety that is the whole point of the first flush? Presumably intended for drinking with milk.

More Kludge Tea Pages

Burmese Tea Main Page

Wuyi Rock Tea

Thai Tea