Description
Assam Latumoni Tea Flowers is a special white tea that is made exclusively from whole tea flowers. Hand picked on an organic Latumoni Tea Estate in winter when the plants are flowering, the flowers are simply dried in the winter sun. The resulting brew is fantastically different, while still resembling a floral white tea. This tea was harvested in the winter months 2018-2019 from plants grown naturally and without use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
This unique tea comes from Latumoni Tea Estate, a small family-run estate located in Tingkhong in Upper Assam. The small plantation measures approximately 2 acres and specialises in organically-grown and hand-processed teas. We work together with a specialist wholesaler in Assam, who works only with small scale farmers. 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 a fair price for their tea and provides investment into their farm to support their family’s future.
This is really the least processed type of tea as there is absolutely no control over the oxidation process. We class Assam Latumoni Tea Flowers as a white tea since we need to classify it somewhere, however it probably should be in its own special product category. Not only does the processing not make it a true white tea, the material itself is questionable for tea classification. In our shop and subscriptions we only focus on true tea, that is a drink made from the leaves of various varieties of camellia sinensis plants. We do have occasional traditionally scented teas, however all of these are still based on leaves of tea plants. Now here we have a product that is from the tea plant, specifically camellia sinensis var. assamica plants, but that is not a leaf. Strictly speaking we would be inclined to include this type of tea in a tisanes category, yet we feel that this still is much closer to ‘real tea’ than to a flower-based tisane.
Assam Latumoni Tea Flowers white tea consists solely of hand picked whole tea flowers. The dry flowers have a most unusual appearance as it is very uncommon to see the tea flower being used as a material for tea production. The flowers are a mixture of orange, yellow and light green colours, are mostly fully open with some unopened buds. The liquor produced has a golden colour and a light chalky aroma. There is some fine sediment that is formed by the pollen at the bottom of the cup. The texture of this tea is unusual, quite viscous and thick with a mouth coating quality. Yet the character is very smooth, without any astringency or bitterness. There are interesting woody notes of light birch wood and a herbaceous floral profile reminiscent of linden blossom. There are also scented notes of honey and ginseng that make this even more unusual. This is unique tea experience that is really quite different!
It is best brewed at 90°C for 3-4 minutes and can be brewed 3+ times.
This Assam Latumoni Tea Flowers white tea was first featured in our December 2019 Curious Tea Subscription Boxes.