Conventional  Production  Silver  Tips:        Conventional refers to the production being of normal production with normal fertilisers as against Organic . As for use of chemical sprays all Ceylon teas are grown under a system which was developed over 20 years ago where bio control has been encouraged over the whole island. Sprays are only used in specific disease outbreaks and then by permit or licence control. Thus all Ceylon teas were declared the cleanest in the world by the International Standards Organisation.  The cost of production here is high as we only used 6 experienced pluckers. Normally pluckers pluck between 15 & 50 Kilos of leaf depending on the weather which is based upon a bonus system whereas in this case we are talking of  400 g or so per plucker.  Because of the small quantities that a plucker can pick before the sun rises she has to be compensated with a much larger bonus. The buds are especially grown and left to elongate. A small block of land separate and away from the normal tea fields is planted with a special clone of tea bush specifically for this purpose. The leaf of this special clone has a purplish hue rather than the normal greencolour. The buds are picked in the very early morning whilst the swirling morning mists carpet the fields. The cold mist causes the protective hairs that cover the delicate new buds to rise and insulate them. It is these raised hairs that impart teh silvery colour to the buds. After picking the buds are placed in special tins which are then covered with foil and dried by the rising sun. No mechanical manufacture or fermentation is involved. The buds should not be picked during the rainy periods.

The Organic Biodynamic Tips are taken from an estate that is community owned and is certified Organic Bio dynamic. There is an explanation in the Organic section of the Website which goes into this more fully but basically it is a middle ages form of agriculture.

Liquor:         The liquor from these buds is a light apple green in colour with a slightly sweet soft flavour.

Brewing:     It is important to treat the buds as green tea and use the lower temperature recommended  90 ^o C (194 F) Temperature. The amount of buds should be restricted and built to the requirement of your palate. They are very fragile and should be treated with great care in handling. The manufacture is minimal as there is no rolling or breaking of the bud leaf cells and there is no normal form of fermentation. The buds are merely left to dry in pans.
ICED TEA:      Can be made as stated elsewhere but we would not normally recommend this with this costly type of tea.

Packs Available:

Identification Colour:               BLUE       However because of the fragility of the buds they will be packed into wooden boxes.

LOOSE  LEAF  TEAS:          125 g Tin Caddy - 125 g White wooden box  -  125 g crafted high quality hardwood box, gold printed

GIFT PACKS:

The white wood box is a light wood box very suitable for packing when flying.
The Dark boxes are made of Toona timber and a heavier quality with lining inside the box.

TIN CADDY PACKS:

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