Organic tea minimises exposure of land, wildlife, producers and consumers to agrochemicals Tom, head of tea, visits tea farmers in Yunnan, China What Does Organic Mean? Literally, Organic means farming or producing food and crops without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals. For organic tea, that means minimising exposure of land, wildlife, producers and consumers to agrochemicals, while getting the purest possible taste of the place of where the tea was produced. For us that’s the most exciting part about organic tea - the opportunity to support t ..read more

Phil Landers, chocolate maker and creator of LAND Chocolate Where all Chocolate begins – the cacao beans “The whole chocolate thing was never in the plan.” After an eye-opening experience working on a cocoa farm in Guatemala in 2012, Phil Landers returned to London, dropped his career at the BBC and took the leap into chocolate. His new found passion for cocoa led him to esteemed chocolatier Paul A. Young, where he began creating wild, adventurous and beautiful chocolates and desserts. But Phil’s ambition was a much more hands on approach to the actual craft of chocolate. To be not jus ..read more

Phil Landers - Chocolate maker and founder of LAND Single Garden Tea and Bean To Bar Chocolate allow us to trace ingredients back to the source Why Tea and Chocolate? There’s a similarity between ‘single garden tea’ and ‘bean to bar’ chocolate that begins even before tasting. Where we use the term ‘single garden’ to trace our teas back to the exact bushes that they came from, craft chocolate makers use the term ‘bean to bar’. Essentially these chocolate bars will be made using the same principles that we champion for our teas – high quality ingredients, direct trade, traceability and p ..read more

With its sweet aroma and satisfying flavour, it's no surprise that jasmine tea is often paired with food around the world. Jasmine tea is any tea that has been scented or fragranced with jasmine flowers. The best jasmine teas are crafted using high quality tea which is naturally scented with fresh jasmine flowers for lasting floral fragrance. Head to any Dim Sum restaurant in Hong Kong in South East China, and you’ll often be greeted with a big pot of tea, which is usually Jasmine. The intensely floral jasmine blossoms are also enjoyed on their own as a herbal infusion in China, ca ..read more

Tea Maker Huang Shuwei in his tea garden in the Phoenix Mountains Looking out over Gaoyuan garden Don’t be fooled by the name, this tea is far from comparison to duckshit in everything but name. In fact it’s an iconic oolong tea from the Phoenix mountains of Guangdong, South China and is so called thanks to its fabled origins. This deceptive name was given to put off tea poachers, looking to get their hands on the original tea bushes – and it’s stuck ever since. Thanks to its expert processing Organic Phoenix Duckshit is a noticeably complex tea with flavours that draws you in. There’s ..read more

Assam Breakfast - A rich, robust tea to start the day   Adding milk to your breakfast tea highlights the sweeter honey and raisin notes One of the best things about discovering single garden tea is the sheer range of flavours and tastes. Single garden tea captures the true flavours of some of the planet’s most spectacular places and producers. Some will uplift, some will wake you up and some will even help you get a good night’s sleep. So choosing the right tea for the right time can take your tea experience to the next level.   To help you find out which tea to drink whe ..read more

All tea contains caffeine as its naturally present in Camellia sinensis – the tea plant Herbal 'teas' like this Peppermint do not contain caffeine as they aren't made for the tea plant When I started getting into tea a few years ago, caffeine was never a huge concern for me. I knew the tea I was drinking had some caffeine in it, but at the time I was more excited about discovering the flavours and new tastes of teas and exploring the places and cultures they came from. However, it was inevitable after a time that I wanted to know more about science behind the leaves – why do certain o ..read more

Tea maker Liu Guoqing tasting his freshly made batches of Jasmine Pearls Tea bushes of the Fuding Da Bai cultivar, a locally grown speciailty which produces large buds and flavourful leaves in the spring flush Picked in Spring 2021 and produced by Kenji Tofuku in Kirishima Chuou Garden, Kagoshima, Japan Combining centuries of tea tradition with a radical approach to organic tea craft, our latest batch of Organic Ceremonial Matcha brings to life the flavour and character of Kirishima, Japan, in a single bowl. Origin: Kirishima, Kagoshima, Japan Cultivar: Okumidori Terroir: Grown at fa ..read more

Tea Maker Lao Song Luocun Garden, Jiande, Zhejiang, China Dragon Well is China’s most celebrated green tea. It’s home is in Zhejiang, south east China but it’s known throughout the country for its fresh and nutty taste, as well as the precise craft behind the best examples. But with so much competition in the tea producing areas of Zhejiang there has been an increase in pesticide and chemical fertilizer use, to promote higher yields and meet the growing demand for Dragon Well. However, there are still tea producers looking to buck the trend, drawing on traditional farming techniques th ..read more

Pristine tea bushes lie in the Shizuoka mountains, surrounded by dense, green forests. A golden cup of freshly made sencha is enjoyed with a homemade mochi dessert. Freshly picked Gyokuro tea leaves are shaded for 30 days before harvesting, so they're full of rich umami flavour. After being steamed these sencha leaves are handrolled to reduce moisture and create the iconic needle-like, leaf shape. Mrs. Miyazaki weaves a traditional rice straw canopy for the gyokuro bushes. The Miyazakis are some of the last tea farmers in Shizuoka to use the traditional straw canopy When c ..read more