Tasting Notes: Full bodied, delicate flavour with toasty notes. Mellow smokiness lending to sweet tobacco or plum character.

Ingredients: Luxury green tea

Origin: China

Region: Jiangxi Province

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1 tsp / 8oz

The shape of the leaves is reminiscent of an eyebrow, hence the word “mee or mei” which means eyebrow.  Chunmee translated is “Precious Eyebrow”. The leaves are hand-rolled in a traditional fashion and pan-fired requiring great skill and the resulting tea is considered a work of art. Patience, great hand coordination, temperature control and timing achieve a fine jade colour leaf and mellow yellowish brew.
This tea reminds us of the “Tea Emperor” Song which notes “ …it promotes such serenity that mundane cares fall away.” Truly a blessing. This same emperor had this to say about tea plucking: ‘‘Harvesting the leaves should begin well before daybreak and stop shortly after. Picking must be done with the fingernails, not with the fingers, lest the freshness and taste be contaminated… Leaves of whitish colour shaped like sparrows’ tongues or grains of corn are best. One leaf per shoot is ideal; two leaves per shoot next best, if there are more, the product will be inferior’’.

Price:

$8 / 50g

$16 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Acorn Squash, Hay, Pistachio

Ingredients: Organic Green Tea

Origin: China

Caffeine Content: Medium

Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1.5 tsp/8oz

Legend holds that a drought was remedied when a monk summoned a dragon that brought rains to fill the village well. To this day, the well nourishes the meadow of Zhejiang, near China’s West Lake, where this dew-drenched green tea is cultivated each spring. Prized for its unique, flat, sword-shaped leaves and jade green colour, this special tea exhibits a fresh, clean aroma and gentle, mellow flavour.

Price:

$17 / 50g

$34 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Toasty and jammy notes leap from a cup that is also sprinkled with lightly vegetative flavour sprinkled throughout.

Ingredients: Organic green tea, roasted rice

Origin: Japan

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1 tsp / 8oz

Genmaicha is one of the world’s most unique teas – just open the bag and you’ll see why. The tea is made using Japanese Sencha or Bancha grade teas – ours is a steamed Sencha – and is blended with roasted rice kernels making the tea look as though it has been mixed with popcorn. The flavour of Genmaicha is light, with mild nutty overtones.  This quality has made it one of the most popular teas in Japan.
Although today it is consumed by all segments of society, this type of tea was originally drunk by poor Japanese, as the rice served as a filler and reduced the price of the tea; which is why it is also known as the “people’s tea.” It was also used by those persons fasting for religious purposes or who found themselves to be between meals for long periods of time.  The sugar and starch from the rice cause the tea to have a warm, full flavour that is similar to that of nuts. It is considered easy to drink and helps one’s stomach feel better

Price:

$12.5 / 50g

$25 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Roasted green tea with full-bodied character and cinnamon-like toast notes

Ingredients: Luxury roasted green tea

Origin: Japan

Region: Kyoto Prefecture

Caffeine Content: Low

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1 tsp / 8oz

The city of Uji, the namesake of this wonderfully light Hojicha, is one of Japan’s most ancient places. The city is home to the Byodoin, recognized by UNESCO as the world’s oldest wooden structure. It was built in 1053 and amazingly, still stands. The region has been home to tea gardens and tea pickers for centuries and is to this day recognized as one of Japan’s foremost green tea growing regions.

Tagami Kikusha, a Japanese Poet, accomplished in the tea ceremony, lived during those ancient times and wrote about life in the area while living in another of Uji’s famous buildings, the Manpuku Temple.

one step outside

the temple gate, its Japan —

a tea-picker’s song

The short poem captures the warm feelings of joy felt by the pickers as they worked in the tea gardens – tea was considered a sacred and divine gift by the ancient Japanese.
One of the teas that helped make the region famous is Hojicha.  Hojicha, a specially roasted green tea, may seem exotic to Westerners but in Japan it is one of country’s most commonly enjoyed beverages. Owing to its low caffeine content – the roasting process removes much of the caffeine – Hojicha is often served to accompany meals.  It is also commonly served to children and patients in hospitals.
The tea is produced using a 3rd flush Bancha leaf known in Japanese as Sanbancha.  Our offering here is plucked exclusively at Yamarokusangyou, one of Uji’s top gardens.  The plucked leaves are produced in a style similar to that of Sencha – the leaves are steamed and dried.  Next the dried leaf is roasted over a low heat – the low roasting temperature imparts a sweet taste and nice fresh aroma (Hojicha that has been roasted at too high a temperature loses much of its sweetness).  This roasting process results in a tea with a reddish colour and light cup with a very unique flavour.  Try pairing our Hojicha with Asian themed meals and notice how well it cleanses the palate.

Price:

$9.5 / 50g

$19 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Exquisite, abundant Jasmine character on a seasonal green tea. This Jasmine flavour is only possible with midnight May flowers.

Ingredients:  Luxury organic green tea

Origin: China

Region: Jiangxi Province

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85F

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving Size: 1 tsp/8oz

This tea is a particularly good organic jasmine – hence the moniker Gold Dragon, (gold means wealth, prosperity, money and dragon means long life and strength).  The jasmine tree comes into bloom only during May and June.  The blossom only lasts for about 12 hours and only comes out at night after the sun goes down.  About half way through the night the fragrance is at it’s peak and it is at this time the blossoms need to be picked and layer into the tea. By the morning most of the fragrance has disappeared from the blossom, but if the tea maker has done his job correctly, this heavenly scent has been transferred to the tea and captured in time.  This process is carried out on 5 successive evenings to impart the superior flavour of specially selected tea and jasmine flowers.
In China during the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1127) tea drinking rose to an art form.  The harvesting of tea became closely regulated.  Drum and cymbal signals were used to coordinate the tea pickers during chilly dark pre-dawn hours.  The tea pickers (always young virgins) received special training and even wore identification labels on the clothing so that tea thieves could be readily identified if they entered the estates.  The girls were required to keep fingernails at a precise length, since nails, never the finger, were used to pluck the highest quality tea leaves.  The fresh picked leaves were graded into classes and processed.  The choice grade was delivered as tribute tea for the Emperor, while the rest was traded and sold by the regional government.  A handful of tea of the choicest grade could be worth as much as 3 ounces of gold – virtually a lifetime of earnings for the common man.

Price:

$12 / 50g

$24 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Smooth with delicate and pleasing flavour and a heavenly jasmine character.

Ingredients: Luxury green tea, Jasmine petals

Origin: China

Region: Fujian Province

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 1805F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving Size: 1 tsp/8oz

Jasmine tea is one of the most pleasant tasting green teas available on the market. On the nose the dry tea has a floral bouquet, which literally causes your senses to come alive with pleasant thoughts. The flavour is enhanced with the addition of jasmine blossoms which give the tea a visual appeal few other teas are capable of copying.
There are many different grades of jasmine tea. This particular grade is the first grade below the exotic jasmines. It has all the flavour, aroma and good green tea qualities but not the exorbitant price. In China they declare this jasmine tea as ‘Jasmine #1’.
The production of jasmine tea is quite interesting. It is important to begin with high quality green tea – tea that has been produced between the middle of March and the middle of May. Equally important for jasmine tea are fine jasmine blossoms – flowers that bloom between the 1st of May and the end of May (these have the most intense aroma). Traditionally layers of jasmine blossoms were placed between fine green tea. In time the scent of the jasmine permeated the tea. Today, hot air is passed through the jasmine blossoms and then filtered through the tea so that the blossoms can be used more than once. The exhausted blossoms are then used to decorate the tea. Produced in both China and Taiwan, jasmine tea yields a cup with all the concentrated heady bouquet of a garden in bloom.

Price:

$10 / 25g

$20 / 50g

$40 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Hibiscus and pomegranate were made for each other! Tart with floral highlights – a cleansing and highly refreshing cup.

Ingredients: Luxury green tea, natural dried hibiscus, natural pomegranate.

Origin: Sri Lanka

Region: Uva

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1.5 tsp / 8oz

Our Green Tea blend is a tart combination of pomegranate and hibiscus. It is believed that the first instance of mixing dried hibiscus petals and pomegranate took place on Easter Island by Polynesian migrants. When pomegranate reached the island, the natives were intrigued, and soon after, the pomegranate juice was blended with the plentiful hibiscus petals. This delicious naturally flavoured tea is created using a Hunan Sencha style green tea. The cup offers a sweet, bright nose, with supple notes of honey, herbs and berries offset by grassy notes of moss from the green tea and a smooth palate cleanser of a finish. Put simply – a fabulous cup worthy of a tall-tale or two of its own.
A little about our base tea:
This tea is based on a Sencha style green tea from Hunan. Interestingly, both green and black teas can be produced from the same bushes. During manufacture, the freshly plucked leaves are immediately steamed and then bruised by hand. Next the leaf is pan-fired, a process that imparts a distinctive glossy look and feel, and dried. Unscented Senchas typically have dark green, needle shaped leaves and produce a pale green to yellow, very bright and smooth cup with a sweetish, honey like finish.

Price:

$9 / 50g

$18 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Cool, soothing and refreshing mint notes.

Ingredients: Organic: green tea, peppermint, cardamom, coriander seed

Origin: China, various dried fruits and herbs from, USA, Thailand Spain

Caffeine Content: Medium

Water Temperature: 185 F / 85 C

Steep Time: 3-5 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1.5 tsp / 8oz

Peppermint Green Tea is a classic; and no wonder, it has a pure, refreshing and rejuvenating flavor full of natural oils! Peppermint is cooling, fresh, aromatic and healing. Our Mint Green Tea has a naturally strong flavour, and fragrant aroma, because of the high levels of menthol preserved in the peppermint leaf after it is dried.

Green tea is rich in antioxidant polyphenols, which clear the body of damaging free-radicals. Green tea encourages a healthy weight, as it naturally burns fat and boosts the metabolism. Peppermint is widely known to promote digestion, ease stomach inflammation, and prevent diarrhea. Peppermint also prevents gas, bloat, and indigestion.

Peppermint Green Tea is a delightful blend to sip your way to better overall health!

Price:

$12.5 / 50g

$25 / 100g

Tasting Notes: Sweet Corn, Grass, Umami

Ingredients: Shade Grown Green Tea Leaves

Origin: Uji Gardens, Japan

Caffeine Content: Medium

Temperature: 150 F / 66 C

Steep Time: 3 minutes

Suggested Serving: 1 tsp/8oz

Adhering to the traditional Japanese methods of growing and cultivation, this superior grade green tea is prized and highly sought after. Select green tea leaves are shade grown for two weeks then promptly deep steamed after harvesting, maintaining elevated levels of chlorophyll and resulting in a bright green vegetal cup. Enjoy this refreshing tea, optimally steeped at a lower water temperature.

Price:

$13.25 / 50g

$26.5 / 50g

$53 / 100g