Komaen Heights Sun Baked Black from Laos

This Komaen Heights black tea from Laos is mouthwateringly sweet and fruity.   Our tasting notes include juicy cherry, a hint of tobacco, a bit of almond, with a syrupy texture.  This tea was baked in the sun for drying, which gives it a lively quality and the ability to age better than oven dried teas. 

Komaen Heights is just above the famous village of Ban Komaen, which is itself near the famed ancient Yiwu tea area in Yunnan (just across the border in southwestern China).   Elevation is high here (over 1500 meters) and the area has many ancient tea trees.

In the 1990s, as part of a resettlement program, the Laotian government assigned families from the Phunoy minority ethnic group these ancient tea trees.  Since then, the Phunoy people have used seeds from the ancient gardens to plant new gardens at a higher elevation (Komaen Heights) on land that was previously used for upland rice cultivation (which is quite a bit more difficult than lowland rice cultivation).  There has never been any pesticide, herbicide, or chemical fertilizers used here so the tea is incredibly clean.  

2024 spring harvest