Blog – Page 16 – Discovering Tea

New regions

8 October 2021

I’m often asked if there are teas, regions or plantations yet to be discovered. But a tea sourcer is not the same as an explorer. You don’t suddenly stumble upon tea factories in the middle of the jungle that no one knew existed, or a part of the world where no one had any idea that delicious teas could be made. We know where tea grows. There are some tea-producing countries and regions that are unknown to the general public, but not necessarily to a tea sourcer. Tea is grown in New Zealand, Cameroon and Chile, for example. It also grows in Hawaii, the Azores, and even in France, in Brittany and the Pyrenees. The real work of the tea sourcer is not so much about discovering unknown places; rather, it involves keeping track of plantations that are still in the learning phase, preferably plantations that show strong potential (which means an ideal soil and climate), and supporting them, so that one day we can bring you delicious teas from these new regions.

That’s life

1 October 2021

The job of a tea sourcer requires patience. Tea grows at its own speed; you can’t rush it. Manual harvesting requires precision, as does each stage in the processing of the tea. And lastly there is transport, which essentially takes place by boat, truck and sometimes horseback for the first stage in the tea leaves’ journey.

We must also take into account random events – an accident, a strike, political tension and, of course, Covid.

A year and a half ago we bought a delicious green tea and an equally delicious oxidised raw tea from small producers in Shan state in northern Myanmar. No-one knows where they are. They might be on one of those flimsy boats you see on the country’s waterways, unless they haven’t left the farm yet. That’s life.

In the Soviet era

23 September 2021

In Georgia, the soviets left behind residential buildings that look as if they were built in the middle of nowhere. In the days when tea was an intensive industry, these buildings had a purpose. But today, with the rural exodus and many plantations disappearing under weeds, the same buildings evoke a bygone past.

Dense vegetation

17 September 2021

In Georgia, tea grows mainly in the provinces of Guria and Imereti, where the prevailing westerly wind blows in moisture-laden clouds from the Black Sea all year round. These are mountainous, jungle-covered regions. The tea bushes weren’t tended for nearly 30 years, so between harvests, ferns and brambles must be uprooted in order to find them. This is a mammoth task for the small producers and their teams who, in the space of a fortnight, see their Camellia sinensis disappearing under the dense vegetation.

Georgia encourages small producers

10 September 2021

During the Soviet era, Georgia produced a lot of tea for the whole of the USSR. But when it gained independence and the troops withdrew, there was nothing left of the production facilities but deserted buildings.
In the space of a few years, its annual tea production of 152,000 tonnes fell to just 1,800 tonnes. But since 2016, tea cultivation has been revived by the Georgian government, which is encouraging small producers to start new farms, produce quality tea and hire employees, with the aim of helping to stem the rural exodus.

Peace!

25 June 2021

One silver lining of Covid-19 is that it has brought some tranquillity to beautiful places that are often overrun by hordes of tourists. In Myanmar, Inle Lake is one of those wonderful destinations that it is important to protect. There’s no doubt that, for the planet, the pandemic has brought some peace.

I hope you all have a good summer and I look forward to seeing you back here on 10 September.

The end of our journey

18 June 2021

I long for life to return, in all its glory, in every aspect.

I long for our senses to be restored and for us to rediscover, when we walk, the sense of smell.

I long for the taste of things to come back to us; the taste of tea, of course, the tea offered to us when we are greeted at the end of our journey.

Roll out the green carpet

11 June 2021

It takes a lot of attention to detail to produce fine tea, harvested from this beautiful emerald expanse. Only the bud and the first two youngest leaves at the tip of the shoot must be picked. The subsequent stages in production also play an important role in quality. Let’s roll out the green carpet for everyone who helps to create such delicious teas.

Brothers and sisters

4 June 2021

More than ten years ago, I met someone (very) famous and something he said to me changed my life. That person was Richard Gere, a man who loves Darjeeling and the Himalayas, and is a follower of Buddhism. The day I had the pleasure of meeting him, he asked me what Palais des Thés was doing “for our brothers and sisters in the Himalayas”. I was stunned when I heard that expression, “our brothers and sisters in the Himalayas”. It changed my life. Since that day, every time I see a picker, I think of his question, which caught me off guard. I think of his way of naming the people who live in those mountains, and since then, it is no longer pickers that I see, but brothers and sisters. And that changes everything.

Alex cultivates curiosity

28 May 2021

By the time you read this, I’ll be with my friend Alex, tasting each of his teas. His Satemwa plantation in Malawi is one of the best in Africa. Not content with making tea for industrial producers, Alex set up different workshops to enable him to experiment – with success. He’s tried all types of processing methods to make semi-oxidised, green, white, fermented, smoked and sculpted teas. Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat; on the contrary, it helps us progress, and Alex is a brilliant example.