Terroir+

     Terroir is the culmination of millions of years of earth processes boiled down into one  “instant” in time. It is the cyclical nature of all living things; growth, death, and regrowth. It is the skilled and weathered hands that sow the seed and harvest the bounty  just at the right time. Terroir is the embodiment of place, practice, and people all coming together to create a unique experience.

     Our group sees the terroir of tea come to play more in the human interactions with the plant, including harvest, processing, and even brewing. Another area that we can get a better understanding of terroir is the bug bitten tea, where the plant is creating its defense chemicals in response to an attack, therefore altering the final product. The identifiable characteristics of camellia sinensis occur through withering, fermentation, drying, and sometime roasting. The way tea is handled can be seen as cultural, geographical, or historical depending on the region the tea comes from. This provides us with a broad range of teas with an even broader range of characteristics. From green to black to anywhere in between (oolong) the style of tea can say a lot about where it comes from.  Brewing is a completely different matter. Teas can be steeped multiple times, and with each steep comes varied profiles. The terroir of tea manifest through permutations of process.