Win 1 of 10 Dilmah Rare Uva Seasonal Flush Teas!

How do I solve the mysteries and complexities of a hectic day? Why by sitting down to a cup of tea and a biscuit thankyouverymuch. I do believe that this helps to cure most small niggly ills and can right the world gone a bit askew. So when I was told about a new rare tea I got a little bit excited ;) The Dilmah Uva 2011 Seasonal Flush - a very special and rare tea that would be classified as a prized possession amongst tea discerning tea fanatics !!

This year on August the 9th was a special date. This is when the first flush or the first picking started at the Uva Highlands estate situated in the Uva Province of Sri Lanka in the Uva Valley. Located at an elevation of

4000 to 4300 feet, Uva Highlands produces some of the finest teas. This Uva Seasonal Flush Pekoe offers the

sublime experience of one of the worlds finest teas. This rare tea is the product of a unique phenomenon in which the interaction of Nature and the art of the Teamaker produces tea of extraordinary quality. Every year they wait for the chill winds to pass through the valley. These seasonal winds that fan Sri Lanka from its East at this time, with the dry, chill gust producing rare and unique changes in the leaves.

At 8am on the 9th of August, the tea pickers started handpicking which ensures that only the two leaves and bud are harvested. This assures the quality of tea by leaving out coarse leaf and twigs that can affect the taste of the tea.

By 9am the tea leaves arrived at the factory to be sorted and by 11:30am the "Withering" had commenced. Withering reduces the moisture content of the freshly picked leaf to 42% - 45% so that the leaves becomes rubbery and can withstand rolling without breaking up into flakes. By 1:30pm that very afternoon they had started rolling the leaves and by 2pm the tea was being fermented which is a process that influences the taste, character and health benefits of the tea. At 2:30pm the tea was dried and at 4:30pm a Dilmah grader goes through the tea to assess the 500kgs total of tea produced from this single day where the winds, climate, humidity and sun were just right.

It was then launched on the 28th of October in Poland, Netherlands and the Ceylon tea trails and there were only 1,000 made of this special tea. Now thanks to Dilmah, we are giving away 10 caddies to Not Quite Nigella readers! For a chance to win all you have to do is tell me about your tea time ritual! I have a cup at 4pm each afternoon with a biscuit - what do you do? Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at midnight AEST on the 11th of December, 2011. You can enter this competition once daily and it is open to anyone within Australia. If you can't wait and want to buy some for a tea lover or yourself for Christmas you can purchase it on the Dilmah site here.

***The winners are:

Stefanie L.

Felicity O.

Bernadette M.

Alix B.

Ollie T.

Weichen Y.

Bec N.

Lynette W.

Sharon J.

****Rita

Best of luck!