Gourmet & Specialty Nilgiri Teas
Note
At the moment our online store is only open to customers with a shipping address in India. If you are shopping from outside India or if any of our teas are out of stock or if you prefer an alternative method of payment, kindly scroll down to the bottom of the page and fill out the form with the teas that interest you and we will get back to you.
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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.
Type : Unoxidised Green Tea | Body : Very Mild
Flavour : Floral creamy mouth feel with hints of jasmine
INR 1550 / 100 grams
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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.
Type : Unoxidised Green Tea | Body : Mild
Flavour : Fruity with hints of unripe mangoes, jack fruit & bananas
INR 500 / 50 grams
Hand Made 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
Type : Oxidised Black Tea | Body : Mild
Flavour : Floral with hints of hibiscus
INR 950 / 100 grams
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.
Type : Semi-Oxidised Oolong Tea | Body : Balanced
Flavour : Fruity with hints of dried apricots and caramel
INR 950 / 100 grams
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 is 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.
There are no flavours added to our tea. The flavour profiles indicated are the mouth feel you get that can be loosely related to fruits, flowers and other aromatics that we may be familiar with.
About Nilgiri Tea
The Nilgiris is a picturesque mountain district situated in Southern India covering an area of 2545 square kilometres. Both the eastern ghats and the western ghats converge in the Nilgiris forming numerous peaks. A lot of the tea estates in the district are located above 6000 feet (1829 meters) and produce what is known as 'high grown' teas. Elevation plays a crucial factor in determining the flavour of the tea. This high elevation results in a cooler climate which in turn results in the tea bushes growing at a much slower pace thereby intensifying its flavour. A little known fact is that 'The Nilgiris' is home to the highest tea estates in the world located at over 8000 feet (2438 metres). There is indeed no where else on the planet that grows tea this high. This high elevation together with the crisp Nilgiri air and mountainous soil give our teas a unique flavour that is unparalleled by any other tea world wide. To paraphrase the tea experts and connoisseurs from around the world that took part in the inaugural 'Golden Leaf India Awards' who described Nilgiri tea as "A beautiful, delicious tea. Fragrant and exquisitely aromatic. High tones of delicate floral notes. Golden yellow liquor. Crisply brisk and bright. Lingering notes of dusk flowers with an undercurrent of briskness. Creamy mouth feel. An aromatic bouquet to take you on a high. Flavourful tea for a stressful day."
About Us
We are a family owned and operated business and have been in tea for four generations. During our journey in tea we have pioneered the first 'Crush, Tear & Curl' factory in the Nilgiris and started the small tea growers movement in the region by setting up what is known as the 'bought leaf' sector. This system enabled small farmers to grow tea without the need to invest in a manufacturing facility themselves, something that was out of reach for most small farmers. The small farmers could simply focus on growing tea and selling them to 'bought leaf' factories. These factories were owned independently but did not necessarily have their own tea estates. This system provided the synergy for the growth of tea in the Nilgiris. Today the region makes upwards of 150 million kilograms of tea, over 70 % of which are grown by small tea growers. In 2004 we started 'Tranquilitea', which was the first specialty tea house and pioneered the specialty and gourmet tea sector in the Nilgiris. It was our effort then and now to educate our visitors that there is more to tea than the average cup most people consume at home. It is our focus to deliver the finest Nilgiri teas, which we and many connoisseurs believe are amongst the best in the world. Towards this end it is not our endeavour to have hundreds of teas on our catalog, just a few of the finest gourmet Nilgiri teas.