LaKyrsiew Edition AV2 2022

Garden

In the hills of Meghalaya province, south of Assam, on the other side of the valley to Darjeeling lies LaKyrsiew tea garden. LaKyrsiew is a boutique garden owned by our friends Geert & Nayan. They first planted in the year 2000 with the aim of making high quality craft Indian teas. Nayan inherited the land from her parents. In Khasi culture, the youngest daughter in the family inherits most of the property as she will be the one to look after the parents in their old age. Nayan & Geert found that this area was scouted for tea planting in the mid 1800s, so they decided to revitalise these plans and LaKyrsiew was founded. Their garden is a hidden gem, producing excellent craft tea.

This Batch

In early 2022 I asked Geert & Nayan to make green and black teas for us from individual tea varietals. One of the results of the experiment was this black tea, made exclusively from the famous AV2 varietal, which is much loved in nearby Darjeeling for making light black teas. For those interested in the details of crafting, the leaves had a medium to hard wither (evaporation) followed by two rollings and a high temperature firing. Just 18kg was made of this exceptional batch.

Tasting Notes

This is a tea of two characters which are each encouraged by different infusion temperatures. When infused at 70°C, the tea is sweet and delicate, almost green in colour, with notes of spring flowers and light spice. The AV2 varietal really shines and the tea bears resemblance to the modern 1st flushes from nearby Darjeeling.

At 90°C, the tea is darker in colour. It opens with florals, followed by a lively acidity, finishing with drying tannings. In this expression it’s reminiscent of the classic Indian hill teas of a bygone era, to be enjoyed on a sunny afternoon.

Infuse 3g per 150ml (teacup size) in 70-90°C water for 3 mins. The tea will infuse three times.

Storage and Ageing

Store in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight. We expect this tea will drink well from picking until about spring 2027.