Rejoice to Thee

Pu-erh has a long relationship with compressed tea. Pressing made tea more compact for storage and transportation, an important consideration when tea from Yunnan traveled by horse and mule along historic trade routes. One of its most charming forms is the tuocha, a little compressed dome with a hollow underneath that looks something like a tiny bowl or bird’s nest. Pu-erh also appears as round cakes, rectangular bricks, small nests, and loose leaf. Interestingly, the shape doesn’t determine whether the tea is raw or ripe. The same leaf can be pressed into different forms, and compression mainly affects how conveniently it can be stored, transported, portioned, and how quickly it may change with age. It’s a wonderfully visible reminder that with Pu-erh, tea isn’t simply something you drink. It’s something people have transported, stored, collected, aged, and shared for generations.

Because one storied tea apparently wasn’t enough for us.

Into the earthy richness of our Pu-erh comes Nayapane Estate FBOP Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka’s historic Kandy tea-growing region. And Kandy has quite a tea story of its own. Commercial Ceylon tea history took a defining turn there in 1867, when Scottish planter James Taylor established a 19-acre commercial tea planting at Loolecondera Estate. As coffee disease devastated Sri Lanka’s once-thriving coffee industry, tea cultivation expanded dramatically, beginning the remarkable rise of Ceylon tea. The Kandy region is classified as medium-grown tea country, and its teas are known for a rich body and deep, copper-colored liquor. Our Nayapane Estate FBOP comes from near Pussellawa in that region, at roughly 3,000 feet elevation. On its own, Nayapane FBOP produces a bright reddish cup with a mellow character, medium body, slight maltiness, and astringency. And FBOP stands for Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe, the grade of this beautiful Ceylon black tea. So now we have quite a foundation.

The Pu-erh brings the dark, earthy depth. The Ceylon black tea brings brightness, body, and gentle maltiness—a Christmas Twist. And then, because this is Steep Me at Christmastime, we couldn’t possibly leave all that respectable tea history alone. We take the deep, earthy character of our ripe Pu-erh and the mellow richness of Nayapane Estate Ceylon black tea, then pile on the flavors of the season. Vanilla, caramel, and chocolate soften those darker tea notes into something rich and almost dessert-like. Mango and pineapple bring an unexpected little burst of fruit, while hibiscus brightens the cup and carrot lends its own gentle earthy sweetness.

Then Christmas walks through the apothecary door. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg mingle with darker vanilla, chocolate, and caramel notes, creating an aroma that feels wonderfully familiar. Think holiday baking, spice cupboards opened on Christmas morning, something sweet in the oven, and a kettle already beginning to sing. What makes this blend so interesting, though, is what’s underneath all that Christmas cheer. The ripe Pu-erh still gives you that unmistakably deep, smooth, earthy foundation, while the Nayapane Estate FBOP brings a brighter, fuller Ceylon-tea character. Nayapane comes from Sri Lanka’s historic Kandy tea-growing region and is known for a bright reddish liquor, medium body, mellow character, and slight maltiness. Meanwhile, ripe Pu-erh gets its wonderfully dark personality from microbial wet-pile fermentation, a modern Pu-erh technique developed in the 1970s. So, this isn’t your ordinary sweet Christmas tea. It’s dark and earthy, fruity and creamy, chocolatey and warmly spiced, with little surprises revealing themselves from sip to sip—vanilla and caramel round the edges. Chocolate deepens the richness. Mango, pineapple and hibiscus keep things lively. And cinnamon, clove, ginger, and nutmeg bring everybody home for Christmas.