Welcome to the July 2024 edition of the Curious Tea subscription! Here’s a closer look at the four exciting new teas that we are sharing with our subscribers this month.
The lighter side of the selection this month features a complex oolong from Malawi that achieves a higher degree of oxidation to produce a satisfying fruity flavour with a lightly tannic mineral finish. The second light tea this month is a handmade green tea from Latumoni in Assam featuring a classic vegetal flavour with a smooth taste and no astringency.
For the dark side of the selection we have another tea from Satemwa in Malawi, this time a very unusual fermented dark tea that is made in the shu pu-erh style! Finally the last tea to be featured is a classic Assam black tea from Latumoni in India that has a smooth and satisfying malty liquor with a lightly tannic typical Assam aftertaste.
Our Discovery subscription boxes contain 10g taster pouches of all of the above mentioned teas. If you are a subscriber you will benefit from a 10% discount on all teas from our tea shop!
Let’s get into further detail on these teas featured in our July tea subscription boxes.
Assam Latumoni Xuwola Green
Assam Latumoni Xuwola Green is a fine completely handmade Assam from Latumoni, a very small family-run plantation located in Tingkhong, Upper Assam. The careful hand processing in small individual batches results in large, beautiful leaves and a bright mellow liquor. This tea was harvested in a special batch for us on 2 July 2024 from plants grown naturally and without use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
The small privately-run plantation only measures approximately 2 acres. It was planted by Sailen and his late father. Originally the leaves from this small plantation like those of many others were bought by the larger factories of Assam to increase their capacity. However, with large corporate gardens having full control over the purchasing of the leaves from small scale farmers and little competition have lead to a significant decrease in the price offered to the farmers. This essentially has created a situation where the small scale farmers were exploited by the large corporate estates. Sailen decided to change the way he was running the plantation, to switch to organic growing methods and to start producing his own artisanal teas.
The small garden is surrounded by small forests of trees and other plants. These are left undisturbed on purpose to protect the tea plants and biodiversity in this garden. This does provide a form of natural pest control for the family. While a complete organic certification is financially out of reach for a small garden like this, the teas here are grown and produced to organic standards, without the use of any artificial pesticides or fertilisers.
This Assam Latumoni Xuwola Green tea has long, large and wiry dark green leaves that feature some silver tips. The aroma from the leaves is green, freshly vegetal with just a hint of tobacco. This tea is very far removed from other green Assam teas flavour-wise. A typical flavour of an Indian green tea, especially one from Assam, would have a strong profile, with plenty of tobacco notes and a varying degree of harshness and astringency. This Xuwola green tea, however, is surprisingly different. The very bright and clear liquor has a fresh aroma that is lightly vegetal and reminiscent of a lightly pan-roasted Chinese green tea. The flavours are light, refreshing and bright. There are milky, tangy, lightly vegetal and herbaceous notes. There are further top notes that are sweet and fruity. This tea has a sparkling quality to its flavour and a lasting smoothness. There is no particularly discernible astringency, bitterness or dryness, just a little chalkiness on the aftertaste. It is a really exciting tea that may just change the way many perceive Indian green teas!
We suggest brewing parameters of 80°C for around 3 minutes according to your taste, brewing 3 or more times.
You can also buy this Assam Latumoni Xuwola Green tea in our online shop.
Satemwa Malawi Oolong
Satemwa Malawi Oolong is a smooth fruity tea from Satemwa Tea Estate in the Shire Highlands of Malawi. Made from a blend of cultivars, it undergoes careful processing to achieve a leaf with mixed oxidation. This results in a medium profile with a sweet fruity flavour and lightly tannic aftertaste. We source it directly from Satemwa. The current batch is from the September 2023 harvest.
Malawi is the second largest tea producing region of Africa after Kenya. Most of it, however, does end up destined for the tea bag industry of the UK and South Africa, being grown on large plantations owned by big multinational corporations. The Satemwa Tea Estate by contrast is family owned and operated. It was founded in 1923 and has stayed in the same family since inception. They have very strong social and environmental responsibility programmes that provide a fair wage to their workers and support to the local communities.
Location of Satemwa Tea Estate:
While this Satemwa Malawi Oolong is classified as a ‘green Moolong’ by the producer, this is quite a different proposition to the ‘green’ minimally oxidised modern oolongs teas from Taiwan and China. The twisted leaves have a higher mixed degree of oxidation, making this somewhere between a lighter green and a darker more oxidised roasted oolong. It produces a bright liquor with a lovely fruity aroma. The flavour is easy-going with dominant fruity notes and sweetness throughout the tasting. There are notes of sugared apples and mineral muscovado sugar. The slight notes of hay and dry wood mark a similarity to some white tea flavours. The aftertaste is lasting, with a mineral woody finish and some pleasant tannins coming through. Overall this is a somewhat unusual oolong, especially when compared to the classic oolongs teas of China and Taiwan!
We suggest brewing at 80°C for around 2-3 minutes according to your taste, brewing 2+ times. Brew shorter for a lighter flavour or longer for a fuller flavour and slightly more tannins. This tea works well for both western and gongfu brewing style.
You can also buy this Satemwa Malawi Oolong tea in our online shop.
Assam Latumoni Signature Black
Assam Latumoni Signature Black is a fine completely handmade Assam from Latumoni, a very small family-run plantation located in Tingkhong, Upper Assam. The careful hand processing in small individual batches results in large, beautiful leaves and a rich yet mellow liquor. This tea was harvested on 26 April 2024 from plants grown naturally and without use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
We work together with a specialist wholesaler in Assam who only works with small scale farmers like Sailen. They do not just resell the farmers’ teas but also provide support and financial help to small scale farmers to enable them to produce great quality tea – such as investing into machinery and providing them with knowhow. This guarantees small scale farmers like Sailen a fair price for their tea and provides investment into their farm to support their family’s future. This is in complete contrast with teas from many large Assam estates where most of the price paid for the tea ends up with the estate and little trickles down to the farmers.
This Assam Latumoni Signature Black is an earlier First Flush Assam, having been picked in late April. Generally the much later Second Flush is the more prized picking as it tends to deliver a bolder flavour that many fans of Assam black tea are looking for. However this earlier harvest delivers some of the classic Assam taste but with a lighter, more elegant twist. The leaves of this tea are carefully handpicked from demarcated sections of the plantation over a short picking period. Therefore each picking can be quite different and this particular batch was only 20kg in total. After picking the leaves are hand-rolled in small batches to avoid breakage and to preserve unique flavour profiles of each picking.
The dry leaves of Assam Latumoni Signature Black are large and dark in colour with some golden tips. It produces a dark amber liquor with a malty aroma, very much like a classic Assam. The malty taste is smooth, sweet and lightly drying. There are mineral, dry floral and lightly woody notes on the taste. The aftertaste is tangy, mineral, with a hint of tobacco and some pleasant tannins. This tea delivers a classic Assam taste but without the harsher and overpowering tannins commonly found in more mass-produced teas. Being an earlier harvest, this further elevates the taste, making it milder, smoother and more approachable.
We suggest brewing at 90°C for 3-4 minutes according to your taste. It can be brewed a couple of times depending on your taste preferences. Definitely try this one without addition of milk or sugar. Works great for gongfu brewing!
You can also buy this Assam Latumoni Signature Black tea in our online shop.
Satemwa Malawi Dark
Satemwa Malawi Dark tea is a fermented dark tea from the the Shire Highlands of Malawi. Made from a mixture of cultivars, it is processed in a similar style to ripe (shu) pu-erh and other similar teas like Liu Bao. This dark tea from Malawi produces a complex and bold liquor with mineral and woody notes and a lasting finish. We source this tea directly from the Satemwa Tea Estate and the current batch is from the September 2023 harvest.
While also producing CTC teas for tea bags and similar applications, Satemwa Tea Estate are also pioneering high end orthodox tea production. For this they are utilising and experimenting with various cultivars found in Malawi, fusing the local plants and terroir with production methods and ideas they collated from visiting tea estates and farmers in other countries. Thanks to these innovative methods, their selection now encapsulates a whole range of teas: unique whites, unusual greens processed using Japanese production methods, oolongs, orthodox blacks as well as dark tea. This dark tea represents some of the more experimental projects at the Estate and is a fascinating take on a classic ripe dark tea!
This Satemwa Malawi Dark tea consists of mixed leaf that has been heavily fermented. It produces a very dark liquor with an aroma of plums and walnuts. The strong and bold flavour starts on a very medicinal and herbal aspect. This then progresses to a medium strength flavour with fruity, tangy and mineral notes of wood and walnuts. Finally, the finish becomes cleaner on the aftertaste, delivering a little dryness and a mouthwatering sensation. On the lasting mineral aftertaste it does become plummy and a little savoury. This is definitely a complex tea that should be savoured slowly and with an open mind.
This tea is best brewed at 95°C for around 2-3 minutes according to your taste, brewing 2+ times.
You can also buy this Satemwa Malawi Dark tea in our online shop.
We really do hope that you enjoy this tea selection and are looking forward to the selection in our August boxes! For next month we selected a special ‘flight’ of Taiwanese Oolongs. We will feature a low altitude, lightly oxidised Four Seasons Oolong that will be contrasted by a high altitude lightly baked oolong from the famous Shan Lin Xi terroir. For the darker side of the selection, we will feature a heavily baked low grown Shui Xian Oolong and it will be contrasted by a premium roasted Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong from the famous Muzha terroir.
If reading this has made you curious about our teas, but you don’t yet subscribe to a monthly tea selection, you can sign up for our tea boxes in just a few clicks. We ship worldwide from London, UK.
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