My Cuppa Tea - Ceylon Uva Script (Patreon)

Part 1: What’s The Tea?

Ceylon Uva tea is a tea from the Uva Province of Sri Lanka. The peak harvest months of this region are between June through September, and the area is located 3,500 feet above sea level on the eastern slope of the central mountains. Steven Smith, the distributor for this tea, states that this particular growing location creates an “intensely floral and slightly sharp” tea, which is golden in color. This tea is subject to the Ceylonese grading system and comes in as OP1, which means it is a well-twisted, large leaf.

Tasting notes for this tea are supposedly malt, petunia, and tobacco. Uva teas tend to be astringent with a nice bite and freshness to various blends. Uva tea is often used in various other tea mixes to make great teas such as Steven Smith’s Lord Bergamont and Kandy with a ‘k.’.

Part 2: Where’s it from?

Sri lanka, Uva Province, is the second least populated area in Sri Lanka. “Its major tourist attractions are Dunhinda falls, Diyaluma Falls, Rawana Falls, the Yala National Park, and Gal Oya National Park.”

Britain colonized this area, which then had an unsuccessful rebellion led by Keppetipola Disawe. After sickness and other losses took hold, Keppetipola was beheaded for his supposed crime of wanting freedom, and his skull was sent to britain for analysis due to its, supposedly, abnormal shape. As a note, this skull has since been returned to the people, according to what I read.

Britain then went ahead with a scorched-earth policy, quite literally burning down homes. They murdered any able bodied man or child over the age of 18, poisoned wells, killed cattle, destroyed irrigation systems, and more, forcing the people of this area into subjugation once again.

It was after this that tea came to the region--if I’ve got my dates right. Tea didn’t come to the region peacefully, of course, as it was actually stolen from the Chinese and smuggled out of the then-closed country, but that’s a story for another time. From what I’ve seen of photos, predominately white britishmen came to the area to make tea a possibility, planting in areas once considered too barren for cattle to graze on and for any crops to grow. While this technique of growing is a great source of knowledge for people now, and even then, we must never forget that this came from a man who benefited from the subjugation and outright slaughter of the people who lived in this area.

It’s honestly hard to talk about my love for tea when I know that the british stole it from the Chinese, killed native peoples and burned their lands, and planted these plants in their homelands to satisfy their own thirsts. It’s just a mess. But this is history, this is what happened, and it’s important to know so that we can honor the people that deserve to be honored.

The area of the Uva Province didn’t have a lot of roads in or out, and therefore, it tended to be a little lawless under the rule of plantation owners. As more roads and railways were created, however, it became easier to have a tea farm so far outside cities, which, of course, benefited those who owned these farms.

Today, tea farms in this region range from 3,300 to 5,600 feet (1,000 to 1,700 meters). Because of its unique location beside the central mountains of Sri Lanka, this area of farming is subject to plenty of rains during the winter, and strong, dry winds in the summer. Harvests are usually conducted around August and October, which is unique to this specific area, as these are not generally the ideal times of the year to harvest teas.

Part 3: How is black tea made?

As this is my first video of this style about black tea, let’s talk briefly about how they’re made!

Part 4: the review