Amba Thieves Tea

Every tea has a story, but few are quite like this one. Years ago, at the Amba Tea Estate in the hills of central Sri Lanka, all tea produced there belonged to the owners. But some of the women who picked the leaves had other ideas. They would pluck the tea and carry it back to their huts, where they processed it by hand with a large mortar and pestle to roll and oxidize it, creating a brew that was crude yet strong and entirely their own. They were called “thieves.”

Today, that tradition lives on in a tea that is anything but crude. Amba Thieves Tea is handmade in the same spirit, and you can see it in the leaves: irregular, broken pieces that look nothing like machine-processed tea, because they aren’t. The cup is brisk and lively, with bright citrus and dark honey notes and a medium body that sits lighter than most Ceylons. It takes milk and sugar willingly, though it’s lovely on its own. Your purchase of Amba teas helps support the livelihoods of the Sri Lankan men and women who make them.