Fifteen years ago we drank really bad tea. We drank mugfuls of cheap, commercial stuff that we thought tasted really good! Fast forward to now and we're really, really picky about what tea we drink, blend and sell. It really does have to be the very best for us to call it Cupsmith tea.
We take tea so seriously that a while ago George went off to China in search of some of the most expensive, highly prized tea called Pu'Erh tea. Visiting Yunnan, a mountainous region in southwestern China, George and a very special Tea Master from Hong Kong explored ancient tea forests on steep hillsides where young trees are around 80 years old, mature trees are 400 years old and a 'very special' tree is over a thousand years old.
The processes of tea growing and production for this high quality tea are very traditional and the picking, drying, withering and rolling is all done expertly by hand. The final product - raw pu'erh - is made into a flat cake shape, wrapped in mulberry bark paper and left to mature like a fine wine.
Pu'erh is highly prized in China for its flavour and health benefits, and these tea forests are incredibly special, protected places, often farmed by the same family for generations.
Whilst we don't currently sell raw pu'erh tea (it's very expensive and performing a gong fu tea ceremony every time you want a cuppa is a perhaps a step too far!), for us it's about making sure that we're exploring the very best teas out there so we can make sure we're always judging our organic teas against them. We're incredibly proud to be using absolutely delicious teas and bringing them to you so you can enjoy them at your kitchen table, every day.
Our organic teas are better for the planet, and better for you. And they taste amazing! Once you've switched to a larger leaf, organic tea like ours, you'll find that after a week or so of drinking it, the cheap, commercial 'dusty' teas really do taste awful! So treat yourself to a really good cup of tea each day - you won't regret it.
Emma & George
PS A photo of one of George's regular suppers during his trip. As you can imagine, he was rather loathed to come home!
