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DRIED RED BOURBON AND SUDAN RUME COFFEE BLOSSOM PETAL TEA.

We recently attended a coffee cupping attended by a major specialist coffee importer, and got conversing with Licensed Q Grade, Coffee Trader, Priscilla, about tea… Obviously it was a conversation about Coffee Blossom Tea, something I knew a little about but wondered if she knew anything herself, not only did she know about it but had some… It transpired that Café Granja La Esperanza , one of our favourite Colombian Coffee Growers and Exporters, has been gathering the petals as they fall from the coffee bushes, (as simple as clean white sheets laid on the ground) and then carefully drying them. La Esperanza is famous in coffee circles for its dedicated research into different varieties, clones and cultivars and their growth and quality relative to the terroir. They have collected petals from seven different varieties; Red Bourbon, Sudan Rume, Geisha, Red Bourbon Tekisic, Yellow Bourbon, Laurina and Pacamara, and Priscilla was able to send a small quantity of the Red Bourbon and the Sudan Rume.

Bourbon Coffee Trees, depending on cultivar, can produce equally as well as the typical Red Cherry also Yellow and Orange. The trees all originated from the island of Bourbon, now Réunion, and they were planted around 1708 by the French from stock given to them by the Dutch. Sudan Rume is a rarely found variety that originated in south-eastern Sudan near to the Ethiopian border.

All these seven aromatic Tisanes differ, producing complex and flavourful aromatic teas. We have no prices for the teas but they will not be cheap, the petals weigh very little and are collected by simple collection methods but at the obvious vagaries of winds and breezes sweeping the dried petals off the sheets.

West Timor Coffee

It is quite unusual to find a Timor Island coffee being offered especially one as good as this. The Island has been politically divided in two parts for centuries. The Portuguese settled in the east of the island, (Timur is Malay for East) at the end of the 16th Century. The Dutch settled in the mid-17th Century and based themselves in Kupang, in the West, this side of the island was called Dutch Timor right up until 1949 when it became Indonesian Timor. The Portuguese and the Dutch fought for control of the whole island up until it was divided by treaty in 1859.

Timor coffee is unusual in that it comes from an interspecific hybrid of Coffea canephora var, Robusta and Coffea arabica that occurred naturally on this island in the mid 1940’s. We suspect that this coffee may well be grown either close to the East Timor border or even across the border and then shipped to West Timor to be sold onto the international market.

This ‘Indonesian type’ coffee is unquestionably one of our favourite kinds; strong, with full body, a fantastic aroma, not particularly bitter but definitely a characteristically ‘Italian espresso style’ flavour. Would work well with a cafetiere or in an espresso.

Two tea experts from Portuguese Macau at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta opposite British Hong Kong, started Tea production in the Açores in September 1874.

After only five years of tea production, The New York Times July 27^th 1879 wrote “The first outcome of the tea-growing in the Azores is shown in a sample recently received at the Kew Museum from Senor Jose Do Canto. The sample is of good appearance, the smell is also good; and the flavour of the infusion by no means to be despised.” The tea soon found favour throughout the European Houses of Royalty and heads of state as well as Japanese Royalty.

The growing and production techniques have remained unchanged for over 140 years, after plucking, which occurs between April and September, the fresh leaves are sorted and cleaned. Leaves destined to become green tea are then steamed and then all the leaves undergo a drying stage with the pure Atlantic Ocean air adding a unique fragrance.

The Gorreana Estate was one of the earliest green and black tea producers and has been in continuous production since 1883. These mineral rich Azores Mountains bathed in pure ocean breezes provide the ideal growing conditions for tea production. The unaltered method of growing has meant continuous Organic cultivation before organic even became a ‘thing’.

In 1662, Catherine Braganza of Portugal married King Charles II and brought with her tea to the Royal Court of England, this started a trend, initially taken up by the aristocracy, which has never diminished. The fashion soon spread beyond the elite to the middle classes and was taken up in London Coffee Houses. Although the tea drunk then would be considered undrinkable now, between 1660 and 1689 tea was taxed in liquid form, the whole of the day’s tea would be brewed in the early morning, taxed by a visiting excise officer, and then kept in barrels and reheated as necessary throughout the day. Luckily after 1689 tea was taxed by leaf rather than liquid.

Founded by the Gago da Camara family, Gorreana’s tea estate is the only remaining estate of an original fourteen tea producing estates and has remained family owned and run for five generations, They still use the original ancient techniques passed down generation to generation initiated by the founder of the Promotional Society of Micaelense Agriculture, Jose do Canto, back in 1874. Production of tea in the Azores reached its greatest level in the 1930’s producing well over 700 tons annually, however high costs for labour and electricity saw the eventual diversification into other agricultural products. Luckily in the 1920’s, Gorreana’s Jamie Hintze utilised the stream flowing through the estate to produce electricity, so when electricity prices rocketed throughout Europe, the Gorreana Estate was able to continue by using its very own eco-friendly green energy.

We have selected the Gorreana Orange Pekoe, premium grade black tea, which only uses the first leaf plucking method where only the bud is taken. These hand selected buds have been harvested this way for five generations, a perfect selection for the connoisseur tea drinker who only wants the best. Helen thinks this is a wonderfully delicate, clean tea that is really distinctive, no astringency, pronounced tannins but not even slightly chewy. Helen likes it with milk but I felt it was perfect without. I prepared it with boiling water and steeped for five minutes.

Our other selection is the Encosta de Bruma premium Organic green tea. Encosta de Bruma translates from the Portuguese as ‘Hillside Mist’, and it is these mists that are responsible for the fine growing conditions found on these verdant mountains. Hand plucked these first leaf or more accurately, buds are carefully cleaned and then steamed to stop fermentation. These buds are from the first flush of growth in the spring and are only collected in April or May.

I used hot water at 80^o C and steeped for three and a half minutes. A very tantalising aroma and delicate taste. I could happily drink this as an afternoon tea and I feel this is one of the finest quality green teas we have had for a while.