Specialist Teas
Our speciliast teas are made by Pranna, a Sheffield based tea merchant that strives to bring the highest standards of Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka, back to the UK.
We are thrilled to present a stunning selection of teas, all awarded with the Ceylon Seal of Quality.
Our teas, grown in specific regions with varying elevations, are renowned for their own unique tastes and individual charm.
Each batch is carefully crafted for you to enjoy a refreshing and immersive experience.
Here is a selection of some of our recommendations:
Ceylon Orange Pekoe
A particularly fine Ceylon blended from a selection of estates, "Orange Pekoe" refers to the grade, an unbroken whole leaf tea with long wiry leaves. Significantly lighter and less astringent than other Sri Lankan teas you may have tried, our signature Ceylon loose leaf tea is best enjoyed black. However, if brewed strong it can certainly hold its own against a splash of milk. Easy-going and versatile, it's a tea for all tastes.
Often misread as referring to the taste of the tea, the term "Orange Pekoe" has a rather intriguing history. The word "Pekoe" is a corruption of the Chinese words for "white tip", referring to the young, fresh tea leaves, while the inclusion of "Orange" refers to Holland's royal House of Orange. When this tea was first brought to Holland in the 19th century, market-savvy merchants added it on to suggest a royal warrant.
English Breakfast Tea
English breakfast tea is a traditional blend of black teas originating from Assam, Ceylon and Kenya. It is one of the most popular blended teas, common in British and Irish tea culture.
This black tea is full-bodied, robust, rich and blended to go well with milk and sugar, in a style traditionally associated with a hearty English breakfast.
The current naming is claimed to have originated not in England but in America, as far back as Colonial times. An account dates the blend to 1843 and a tea merchant named Richard Davies in New York City. Davies, an English immigrant, started with a base of Congou and added a bit of Pekoe and Pouchong. It sold for 50 cents per pound (0.45 kg) (equivalent to $14.54 per pound in 2021), and its success led to imitators, helping to popularise the name.
In the UK, the popularisation of breakfast tea has been attributed in part to Queen Victoria. At Balmoral in 1892 she tasted and enjoyed a blend so-named and returned to London with a supply.
Darjeeling
Darjeeling tea is famed for its sparkling clarity of taste and crystalline sweetness, benefiting from the steady rainfall, light soil and cool air of the Himalayan foothills. The British first established plantations in Darjeeling in the 1840s, using seeds smuggled from China, and some of the original China Jat bushes are still cultivated today.
Picked during the second harvest of the year between May and June, this “Second Flush” Darjeeling takes on some of the warmth of late spring, with developed fruit notes coming through in the cup. You'll often hear connoisseurs refer to the “muscatel” quality of a good Second Flush variety, and it's true that this particular Darjeeling tea has a real sense of that delicious dessert wine sweetness. Far lighter than most black teas, our loose leaf Darjeeling is best brewed lightly and enjoyed without milk – you'll find it's sublimely refreshing at any time of day.
Premium Earl Grey
Renowned for its wonderful bergamot aroma, Earl Grey tea has become firmly ensconced as an afternoon tea classic.
Our take on the quintessential British blend of fine Chinese and Ceylon black tea is perfectly balanced with flavours of citrussy bergamot – we've even added a scattering of blue cornflower petals for an elegant final flourish.
It has been suggested that the Earl Grey blend, or "Earl Grey's Mixture", may have been named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, a British Prime Minister in the 1830s.
According to the Grey family, the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, using bergamot in particular to offset the preponderance of lime in the local water. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others.
A tea for all seasons...
Available to purchase in all Blue Diamond Restaurants, this wonderful selection of tea books are presented in a crafted metal tin with a selection of teas from Japanese Sencha to the classic Earl Grey.
These tea books make a perfect gift for any tea lover, and is ideal for a birthday or Christmas present.