Buying real Ceylon tea well grades to look for and where to avoid the airport markup

Tea trade so let me decode the grades and the geography then point you to honest tea The grades simplified they describe leaf size and style NOT quality directly OP (orange pekoe) long wiry whole leaf delicate BOP (broken orange pekoe) broken leaf stronger quicker brew the everyday workhorse BOPF (broken orange pekoe fannings) smaller still what fills most tea bags FBOP and the flowery grades contain more tip more nuance and silver tips the unopened buds the rare delicate apex grade as the white tea threads cover The geography is the real quality story high grown (Nuwara Eliya Dimbula Uva above 1200m) bright brisk aromatic the champagne teas mid grown balanced low grown (Ruhuna southern) strong dark full bodied the Middle East favourite single region single estate teas state the garden and elevation Where to buy well NOT the airport which is exactly the rip off everyone says convenience prices for ordinary grades in pretty tins The honest sources the supermarket surprisingly good Cargills and Keells carry quality local brands (Dilmah Mlesna Zesta) at local prices a fraction of export pricing for genuinely good tea the dedicated tea boutiques in Colombo and Kandy (the Mlesna tea centres the Dilmah t lounge the Heladiv type shops) for single estate and gift presentation the tea factory shops if you tour an estate buy the estate own pack at source and the Pettah and town tea wholesalers for loose tea by weight at the keenest prices What single estate should cost genuinely good loose high grown runs the equivalent of a few dollars per hundred grams at honest shops the airport charges multiples for less The buy smart plan supermarket for everyday quantity at local prices a boutique single estate or two for gifts and the silver tips small as the splurge buy whole loose leaf in foil sealed packs not the dust in bags and keep it for late in the trip so it travels fresh