BOH Cameronian Gold Blend Teabag review

BOH Cameronian Gold Blend tea described by its producer as a true masterpiece, aromatic, delicate, smooth which uses only the tender shots of the and Rajghur jats tea bags is one of many products of BOH Plantation Sdn Bhd, the Cameron Highlands Tea company (the tea with the UMMPH!).

Here is a photo of a cup of water with the teabag immersed for a few seconds in hot water:



You can see the dark brown color slowing spreading as the tea is being brewed. I have often wondered if the color is the natural color of the tea leaves or (hopefully not) some artificial coloring added to give it the visual UMMPH!

Here is a photo of the packaging from which the teabag was taken for identification purpose:



I remembered sending a query to BOH regarding this matter but did not get a response. Let me try once more at their contact form and see if this time I get a reply. Will update accordingly so do check back later.

Update 24 September 2010: BOH Plantation Sdn Bhd responded today with test result certification plus this message: "Thank you for writing in to us.

With regards to your query below, we would like to assure you that there is no artificial colouring in BOH Cameronian Gold Blend Tea. The tea colour in BOH Cameronian Gold Blend occurs naturally and it does spread in the way that you mentioned. Of course this is the colour that is naturally present in the tea. The idea of steeping the tea bag in the cup is for the natural colours and flavours to be infused. And if the tea bag is sitting idle in the cup, it is quite normal for the colour to spread this way.

Also for your info, we do send our products to independent/certified laboratories periodically in order to test various parameters. Pls find the attached relevant certification of the result analysis on the color parameters for BOH Cameronian Gold Blend.

If have any enquiries about our products in the future, pls forward them to info@boh.com.my and we would be pleased to answer your queries."

Certification of analysis results by laborities

COLORS OF TEA INFUSION

Anyway, found this video about "Reading Black Tea Infusions" in which there are numerous references to the color of black tea infusions:


Reading Black Tea Infusions

A dark green color in black tea means that the leaf was over fermented. Learn more tips for evaluating black tea in this free tea video about how to taste tea.

bright with a bit of green tnt - under fermented
dark green tint - over fermented and not withered long enough
green or yellow tints - pungency

Video Transcript

"Okay, we're going to talk about what to look for in a weak infusion of black tea. So I'm going to go ahead and put just a little bit of hot water over my tea leaves, and when I say weak infusion, I know I'm adding just a little water but what I'm really referring to is that it's not steeping for very long, not necessarily that we're using just a little bit of water. So, as you watch it infuse over the next thirty seconds or so, I'm going to let you know some specifics to look for. First look at the water. If it looks bright with a bit of a green tint, it probably means the tea was under-fermented. A dark green tint means over-fermentation and that the leaf probably wasn't withered long enough. Green or yellow tints usually indicate pungency, which is a word we'll define in our glossary later on. But over all, still looking at the water, a good black tea will look thick, and then, as you're examining the weak infusion, you want to look at the leaf, or the leaves. If they're dark, it usually means you're working with a low quality tea and that, yeah, your leaves just are low quality. So if the leaves turn kind of red, it's a sign that you've got a good quality tea and it looks like a few or our leaves in this tea actually are reddening or showing their redness as they unfold. And a golden leaf shows high quality which is also a term that will be defined later - quality. And quality basically denotes a great cup of tea, and if you're dealing with an oolong, the water will actually turn cloudy as the tea cools down, and if you use a small amount of water you can actually see it because the water will be in the cool down."

Read more: Reading Black Tea Infusions: Tea Tasting | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/video_2334681_reading-black-tea-infusions.html#ixzz10Gdt4aLS

Source: eHow: Reading Black Tea Infusion