STiR coffee and tea magazine

16 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2017 (April/May) Tea Report: Jane Pettigrew ICELAND Café Miyuko Expands At Café Miyuko in Zurich, Switzerland, Sara Hochuli made a name for herself with her eye-catchingly colorful cakes. Sara is very good at unusual projects and, as well as creating the unusual Japanese- themed tearoom there, she has also designed a limited edition watch for Swatch (and received orders from the Rolling Stones and Amy MacDonald). She also loves Japan, extravagant tarts and cakes, and Iceland, and now, she has fulfilled a long-held dream to open Kumiko, Iceland's first tea house in Reykjavik. Icelandic music icon Björk and Jónsi, the singer of the cult band Sigur Rós, are already among the guests. Film maker Jan Knüsel followed Sara for 15 months on her journey from planning through unveiling the new tea house. Different segments of the mini-docu- mentary series he made are now available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3Obfv1DFVWQ INDIA Tea Studio Having produced his range of high quality specialty teas in the company's rather unique factory in the Nilgiris for almost a decade, Indi Khanna of Tea'n'Teas decided it was time to put all his practical experience into practice. And so, with an eye to the future, stretching into at least another decade, Khanna has shut down the old unit and replaced it with a dramatically upgraded facility situated in the Nilgiris near 6,400 ft. The Tea Studio is designed, as Khanna explains, "to handle limited quantities of the highest quality leaf and to convert it into a unique artisanal range of white, green, semi-oxidized, and black teas for the discerning tea aficionado. The source of our green leaf is small, and marginal tribal smallholder farmers are being guided and educated on the quality of leaf required." Financing is from six investors. Khanna explains, "The design of the factory is out-of-the-box and eclectic, very modern, nothing like other factories in the Nilgiris or for that matter in any tea-growing area. We want to showcase that tea manufacture can be stylish and modern – not the hackneyed view which is the long accepted norm in this industry." The plan is also to encourage tea lovers to visit in order to get the feel of tea making at the most exacting standards, starting off with leaf plucked by their own hands. "And we are going be sourcing part of our raw material from a local self-help group, in order to help promote them and give them the opportunity to vastly improve their earning capacity by supplying high quality and therefore high value leaf to Tea Studio. We are also working towards giving a percentage of our proceeds to a school which teaches children with special needs, right here in the Nilgiris. "While the details have not yet been finalized, we are still in discussion to see how best we could help the kids help themselves instead of by counterproduc- tive cash handouts." Production in scheduled to begin in April. Learn more: twitter.com/teastudio INDONESIA Old Traditions, Modern Ag Harendong Tea Estate is situated in a region where indigenous traditions have been handed down for hundreds of years. There is a strong emphasis on eco-friendly farming techniques estab- lished by ancestors to preserve and protect natural resources and maintain a harmonious (balanced life circle). One of the annual rituals is the Seren Taun ceremony, during which the locals express their gratitude for the success of the Kasepuhan rice harvest. Villagers there were once the poorest in the region so, when Harendong owners began cultivating the land, they provided electricity to the village and repaired the road to the village, giving much better access from the main road. Harendong Estate also respectfully learned the traditions of the locals and built the plantation around them, blending modern agriculture with indigenous traditions. For example, according to the local knowledge and wisdom, there were areas that must never be disturbed, so Harendong continues to respect those beliefs. The area often suffers very dry weather and years ago, during one of those dry seasons, some the villagers said to us that they were committed to sacrifice their own personal needs if the "tea bushes need to have enough water to drink and survive." That was not necessary but recently, during another dry season; the owners of Harendong discovered that underneath the area there was actually a natural spring that will now help both people and tea bushes during future dry seasons. Learn more: www.harendong.com JAPAN Ice-Steeped Teas In anticipation of increased demand for cold-brew tea, Ito En, the Japanese green tea company, has developed a new range of 'ice-steeped' teas for the North American market. The company has sold bottled cold brew teas in Japan for approximately 10 years. The new range was launched in March at the Natural Products Expo West 2017 and Jim Hoagland, c.o.o. of Ito En North America says, "Our main focus will be on capitalizing what we think is a big trend that extends across a lot of consumer segments of cold brew." The teas are brewed using a combination of Kumiko: Reykjavik's first tea house India Tea'n'Teas new factory Indonesia Harendong factory

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