Forest Hill Handmade Wild Black Tea Rods

These tea rods are so cool! They were developed by Buddika Dissanyaka of Forest Hill Tea in the Adam’s Peak mountain range in Sri Lanka. Buddika makes these rods from tea fields that had been abandoned for 130 years! At this point, those tea fields have now blended into the surrounding forest and the plants have grown to 30 to 40 feet high. All the tea is naturally grown, without the assistance of agrochemicals of any kind.

Each of these hand-picked and hand-rolled wild tea rods is made by hand using 16 sets of freshly picked tea leaves and buds. They are made to order and so this batch was just made (May 2023). Each rod is for about 300 ml of water and can be re-steeped two to three times. The liquor is complex and silky smooth. The steeped teas shows aromatics of chocolate, maple, vanilla, and citrus.