Dragonwell

Notes of kumquat, fresh grass and hazelnut

Green Tea from the Nilgiri Hills, India / Harvested in January 2024 / Organic

Typically, certain teas are associated with regions that grow them best. For example, Longjing (also known as Dragonwell) should come from West Lake in the Hangzhou region of Zhejiang Province, China. But tea-makers all over the world have begun experimenting to break through these preconceptions. From the Nilgiri mountains in Southern India, we bring to our collection a rare Dragonwell - meticulously handcrafted with gentle flavors of citrus fruit, fresh grass with a nutty finish of hazelnut.

The leaves for this tea were individually hand-picked by marginal tribal farmers who tend their tiny family land holdings in the vicinity of the garden. The entire garden is run by women and the small-holders who provide the fresh leaves are paid 200% more than the norm.

Each batch was carefully roasted in 3 stages. First, the tea was fired to stop further enzymatic breakdown, it was then pressed and shaped, and finally pan-roasted to dry. The entire production process took 45 minutes to complete. The precise hand movements of the tea maker give the leaves their flattened spear-like shape and shiny, jade green appearance. The secret to our Dragonwell lies in striking a balance between allowing the flavour of the spring tea leaves to shine through while timing the pan-frying for those delicious nutty notes.

The finished result is a robust, traditional Dragonwell crafted in a non-traditional region of its own kind.