Amba Thieves Tea (Sri Lanka)

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  • Regular price $11.49


2 oz. (25 cups) or 8 oz. (100 cups)

This is a brisk, full bodied black tea with a story. Instead of being processed by machinery, it is pounded in a vangedi stone mortar—the way estate workers make their tea at home. The name comes from an old practice of workers secretly bringing home raw leaves from the fields to make their own tea this way. It has notes of brown sugar, malt, orange peel, and dark chocolate.

Brewing instructions
Amount: 1 teaspoon of loose tea per cup of water
Temperature: 205 ̊ (Just off the boil)
Steep time: 3 minutes

About Our Sri Lankan Tea

Formerly called Ceylon, the island of Sri Lanka has produced some of the finest tea in the world for the last 150 years. While the tea industry survived Sri Lanka’s 30-year-long civil war intact, it has also bolstered the entire country’s continued economic recovery since the war's end in 2009.

Our Ceylon tea comes from Amba Estate, a small tea garden and organic farm nestled at 3,300 feet, high above the Ravanna-Ella waterfalls in the Uva mountains of Sri Lanka. Working with the local community, its 30 full-time workers produce a range of artisanal, hand-rolled teas. Amba’s products are made using local ingredients according to the season to create a unique combination of flavor, color and aroma. And unlike almost any other tea estate, Amba shares 10 percent of its revenue with employees. In a country recovering from a decades-long civil war, Amba has another rare distinction: Its staff is nearly equally split between Sinhalese and Tamil workers.

Customer Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Based on 5 reviews
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H
Hokie Run
Best tea anywhere

I have enjoyed every Rakkasan tea I’ve ordered…and have 7 varieties I rotate through the week. This is one of my favorites. Great tea, an exceptional mission, and veteran owned. Bravo Zulu!

M
Marion
Delicious!

Just as described! I am generally not a fan of Ceylon tea but I think it is because I have never had good quality. This is a really great tasting tea. I had a large cup at lunch time and was taken aback by its complexity. I will happily drink this again and might make it my Sri Lankan go to tea. I am “drinking my way” through Rakkasan’s tea catalog and it’s clear that this tea is exceptional

S
Sujata
Perfect morning cuppa

I’m a lifelong tea drinker and it’s so hard to find a proper brisk first cuppa for the day. This is perfect as it’s a strong malty flavor and retains a nice color even after adding milk.

N
Nancy

A regular purchase for me. Have a cup regularly.

D
Don
Black tea with history and unique taste

Professional tasters of tea and wine usually make me laugh because I can't recognize anything that they describe. Amba Thieves Tea is different. Even my dulled-by-age taste buds recognized the malt flavor and other appealing qualities of this tea. It's a bit of an inconvenience to time the tea to "just off the boil" but since it is a high altitude tea and water doesn't boil at 212 degrees up there, the extra effort seems sensible and the resulting tea is definitely worth it. Amba Thieves tea is good.
Don