Mlesna UVA Highlands BOP is a loose black tea from Sri Lanka, sold in a 500g silver foil bag printed all over with the red Mlesna crest. The green front label reads Ceylon Tea, Uva Highlands, B.O.P, and carries the Uva regional symbol alongside the lion logo used on pure Ceylon tea.
Uva is one of the seven tea-growing regions of Sri Lanka, a high-grown district where the estates lie between roughly 1000 and 1600 metres above sea level. Only tea that meets the registered definition of origin may carry a regional name, so the Uva mark on this label ties the leaf to that district. B.O.P stands for Broken Orange Pekoe, a broken-leaf grade and, with the whole-leaf Orange Pekoe, one of the two most sought-after Ceylon grades.
The label lists a single ingredient, pure Ceylon black tea, and states that it is a product of Mlesna (Ceylon) Ltd, packed in Sri Lanka. Mlesna was founded in Colombo by the tea taster Anselm Perera, and the company name is his first name written backwards.
This is a plain, practical pack rather than a gift caddy: a gusseted foil bag that stands on its own and holds a generous quantity of loose leaf. The label asks for it to be stored in a cool, dry place, and a sticker on the back carries the date of manufacture, best-before date and batch number.
