Dilmah Tea now available in SA

TEA FIX: Dilmah Exceptionals offers quality, fragrance and character.

TEA FIX: Dilmah Exceptionals offers quality, fragrance and character.

Published Dec 22, 2014

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Johannesburg - One of the world’s most esteemed tea brands, Dilmah, is finally available and accessible to the general public in SA. The tea has been available in five-star hotels and certain restaurants for a while, but now that it is stocked in Pick n Pay and Spar, everyone can have their tea fix.

For me, there’s nothing better than ending off my day with a good cup of tea. For the longest time, mass produced black tea available in supermarkets in packs of 100 satisfied my needs.

Slowly, I started trying flavoured teas, and then, I came across Dilmah’s Rose and Vanilla tea and I haven’t looked back.

Dilmah sources its tea exclusively from Ceylon in Sri Lanka, and the brand makes tea more about the experience than just the beverage.

It prides itself on traditional tea, made in the “orthodox” style – a production process that starts with hand-picking the leaves and continues through withering, rolling, oxidation and firing – following a technique perfected over centuries.

The alternative, more commercial way of making tea is called “CTC”, which stands for crush, tear and curl.

Instead of the leaves being rolled before oxidation, they are passed through a series of cylindrical rollers with hundreds of small sharp “teeth”. Dilmah describes this variant as “tea without a soul”.

The other element that makes Dilmah special is the fact that most of its teas are Single Origin Tea, which means the teas are unblended and have a sense of place – tea grown in each respective region of Sri Lanka possesses a unique, signature taste that is the product of that unique climate.

The lower cost option is to buy tea from wherever it is cheap, as tea varies enormously in cost, and blend it all together to produce a “multi-origin blend”.

Lastly, the experience of drinking the tea feels luxurious – teabags are pyramid shaped and more porous than usual, resulting in more flavour being absorbed into the tea.

Dilmah has a huge variety of teas on offer, including loose leaf teas. If you can’t find your favourite in your local supermarket, order online at www.dilmahtea.co.za

Sunday Independent

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