Elevation: 4000’

Climate: Volcanic

Cultivar: Assam

Leaf Aroma: Forest Floor, Cocoa, Hay

Wet Aroma: maple syrup, forest floor, leather

First Steeping: Thick syrup flavor like maple or caramel, and gentle notes of forest floor. When you have a strong steep of this tea you might think it contains sweetener. Th finish is long and leaves the mouth coated with a creamy feel.

Brewing Instructions:I love having this tea in the simplest form, grandpa style. I find just a small helping of these leaves produce a very flavorful cup without bitterness or astringency.

More to love:

When I first met this tea I fell in love. It was 2016 and I was attending a workshop at Tea Hawaii. Eva choose a version of this tea as our welcome tea. A tea that was imperfect, contained some twigs and pieces of earth, but a tea that was the product of so much love & hours of hard work by the farmers.

Taken from the lower pickings that are sometimes discarded, the farmers will take these leaves and have it as their daily cup. What I love most about this humble steep is that it’s not trying to be something it’s not. It’s just tea.

The hands that make it:

Leaves from the Cross Ohana Plantation in Hakalau, picked and processed by Eva Lee & Chiu Leong of Tea Hawaii