In September Adagio Teas launched their “Roots Campaign” with a story about a Chinese tea farmer from Fu Jian province who handled Jasmine Tea.

For November we’re greeted by Archiemuthu Satheskumar a Ceylon tea farmer from Sri Lanka. Again, this project seeks to shine a light on the hard working tea cultivators whom Adagio sources from while also giving back to them 10% of the proceeds of sales from their product via Adagio’s website.

Mr. Satheskumar notes several interesting changes in the tea industry including the introduction and subsequent removal of “OST” style tea plants which didn’t provide desireable yields.

Unlike last month’s tea grower from South Africa… Mr. Satheskumar doesn’t seem to indicate the proceeds from the Roots Campaign will go to improving the teas he works on. Instead, he simply indicates he’ll take the contribution as a reward for his hard work.

I highly recommend participating in this unique venture from Adagio Teas.

From an Adagio release:

Starting on September 1st, we will be launching the “Roots Campaign” on our site. A chance for our customers to meet the individual farmers who produce our teas and to gain an insight on the process of growing and making tea. Each month we will be highlighting a different tea from our product line and featuring the tea artisans that grew and crafted this tea. Users will be able to read about who that farmer is, view photos of their land and family, & read their answers to select questions that we have chosen. To show our deep appreciation, 10% of the sales from the featured tea will be donated back to the farmer it was sourced from.

The project is slated to run for 12 months and will feature 12 farmers from different tea-growing regions around the world. We would be thrilled if you were to inform your readers about the campaign before its release in order to help make these contributions as meaningful as possible. At the end of the campaign, we will be conducting followup interviews to find out just how the farmers were able to benefit from the donations.

Here is a link to the first Roots Campaign from Adagio! It’s a great read!

Help a good cause: CharityWater.org

Friday is Black Tea, Floral Tea, Fruit Tea, Chai and Pu’erh Review Day!

Lots of companies offer black teas. They’re the most traditional and recognized kind of tea. More recently companies have been offering black teas from different countries. This Sri Lankan blend from Adagio is a nice relaxing brew.

Ceylon Sonata (a name which plays into the music related name of the brand) is a Sri Lankan black tea with small black lightly curled leaves with a few showing light folding at the ends. It brews up an extremely dark amber, almost completely opaque.

The aroma reminds me heavily of a traditional assam with a bit of peach and some slight roasty notes.

The roastiness carries over into the flavor as does the assam. Continued hints of peach and honey are present in this subtle flavor profile. There isn’t much of a tail to speak of. There is some slight astringency.

I recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys a light black tea which isn’t too strong. Fans of assams will enjoy the flavor but may be disappointed in the lack of bite in this tea.

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