Gourmet & Specialty Nilgiri Teas
Silver Tips
Silver Tips teas are made from selectively picked unopened buds that have a fine silvery coat around them. These tender buds are then shade dried until the requisite character is formed. As a result of this minimal processing, Silver Tips are amongst the healthiest of teas. Unfortunately owing to the difficulty in harvesting the buds at a precise point in time, Silver Tips are also amongst the worlds rarest teas with extremely minimal quantities made each year.
Unoxidised Green Tea | Mild to non existent body
Floral creamy mouth feel with hints of jasmine
Hand Made Green Tea
Made using the tender most stalks of the tea bush, these teas are initially subjected to heat in order to keep it from oxidising and are then gently hand rolled ensuring its leaf structure is intact before being dried. The flatter roll of our hand made green teas give it a characteristic fruity note and is much more gentle on the palate than any machine made equivalent.
Unoxidised Green Tea | Mild body
Fruity with hints of unripe mangoes, jack fruit & bananas
Hand Made Bai Mudan Tea
Made using a single leaf and bud, these teas are withered naturally for two days in order to dramatically reduce the moisture content. These semi dried leaves are then put into perforated bags and allowed to air dry. This method of natural air drying gives the teas its distinct earthy feel and its balanced body. Bai Mudan teas are sometimes called yellow teas owing to the yellowish tinge that the leaves take on after the air drying process.
Unoxidised Green Tea | Balanced body
Earthy with a feel of petrichor
Hand Rolled Black Tea
Hand Made Teas are crafted using age old techniques that were developed well before the advent of mechanisation. Tender stalks containing the traditional two leaves and a bud are harvested and then rolled individually by hand to give it its distinct shape. Hand rolling enables the teas to keep its flavours intact as the amount of heat generated while rolling is minimal. Needless to say a lot more care can also be taken thereby resulting in a tea with a far superior flavour to any machine made equivalent.
Oxidised Black Tea | Mild body
Floral with hints of hybiscus
Oolong Tea
With green teas being un-oxidised and black teas undergoing the oxidation process, there had to be a tea that sits midway between the two. Oolong teas are just that and are semi oxidised. This is done by a process of allowing the enzymes that flow out of the ruptured leaves to react with the air around thereby starting the oxidation and subjecting heat midway through its oxidation cycle thereby prematurely stopping the oxidation process.
Semi - oxidised Oolong Tea | Medium body
Fruity with hints of dried apricots and caramel
Brewing Gourmet Teas
Take 3 grams of tea per cup in a tea pot
Heat freshly drawn water to 80 C / 176 F
Pour hot water onto the tea leaves
Cover the pot and allow to brew for 3 minutes
Strain and Serve
You can make multiple brews with the same tea leaves.
There is no hard and fast rules for brewing time. 3 minutes iis what we recommend but you can adjust it to suit your individual preferences.
Never use boiling hot water to brew gourmet teas. The better the quality of tea the more fragile they are and using boiling water will destroy the flavour of the teas.