PROFILE: SILKY, YOUNG RICE SHOOTS, GREEN BEAN, GRASS

ORIGIN: THUONG SON, HA GIANG, VIETNAM

HARVEST: SEPTEMBER 2023

Bamboo Dream is an all new green tea to our 2021 collection. Produced from young, new growth this is a one bud, two leaves wild tea harvested from the two highest villages of Thuong Son commune, Vi Xuyen district, Ha Giang. The tea liquor is silky smooth in the mouth with a characteristic wild tea depth and notes of green vegetables (green bean, young rice leaves) and grass. The flavour profile makes Bamboo Dream the closest of our wild teas to the traditional Thai Nguyen farm teas like Fish Hook.

Excellent staying power over multiple steepings, the grassy notes gradually become more prominent although the tea remains well balanced throughout with a sweet aftertaste and long finish.

Produced by a family from the Co Lao ethnic group – one of the smaller minorities in Vietnam – to their own rigorous, long standing traditions. On tea-making days, they buy just enough fresh leaf to allow sorting and fixing (kill green) to be completed before the midnight hour; then rolling and drying begins.

The only way to get hold of this tea is to go to the mountain and buy it with cash. The family has no bank account and no means of shipping. We believe it is well worth the effort.