Keemun Black Tea
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100% Organic & Environmentally Friendly
Yunshan Keemun tea is organically grown, high on top of the Yellow Mountains of China. The ecologically sustainable plantation blends into the natural habitat surrounding it, and the fresh spring water and clear mountain air create a luscious and nurturing environment for our plants. Each leaf is handpicked with care, to provide you with the highest quality – and most delicious – tea.
Unlike conventional tea farming, organic tea agriculture works in harmony with nature. It relies on biodiversity, natural weather cycles and promoting the sustained health of its natural ecosystem to yield happy, healthy and high-quality plants. Organic agriculture assists in sustaining soil health and improving upon the quality of life for the surrounding ecosystem. Yunshan tea is 100% organically grown in adherence to and certified by European regulations – meaning it’s completely free of pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. Our plants are grown with care and consideration for the environment and provided with an ideal habitat for them to thrive.
200 Years of Tradition
Keemun Black Tea was first produced by Yu Ganchen in Qimen County, in the Anhui Province of China in 1875. As the first black tea produced in the region, it swiftly became highly popular in the West, and is still being used today in a number of classic blends – such as English Breakfast Tea.
Also known as Keemun Gongfu or Qimen Gongfu (depending on the dialect), this beautifully flavoured tea is highly regarded around the globe as one of the highest quality black teas.
Yunshan Agriculture
Our name Yunshan, meaning Cloud Mountain, isn’t just a name.
Our tea is grown high atop the Yellowstone Mountains in the Qimen County of China. The high altitude ensures pollution-free air and soil, providing a sheltered and nutrient-rich habitat for our plants. The cool and clear mountain climate promotes slow growth, providing our plants all the time they need to absorb nutrients from the lush mountaintop soil. Each plant is grown with care and hydrated using clean and crisp mountain water.
This slow and delicate process ensures each one of our plants – and as a result, our tea – is packed full of nutrition and flavour, providing you with a more exquisite and healthy beverage.
Handpicked with Care
Our tea leaves are handpicked with tender care before the light of dawn breaks over the mountains, in the early hours of the morning.
This method is used to avoid morning dew, ensuring a higher quality of flavour sealed into each leaf. This precise process requires our tea-pickers to be both skilled and attentive; as only the most delicate, young and ripe leaves and buds are picked. Each one of our handpicked tea leaves is of the highest standard, allowing us to create a more delicious, nutrient-rich and high-quality tea for you to savour and enjoy.
Traditionally Manufactured
The art of harvesting and processing tea is centuries old, evolving and being perfected as the years have gone by to cultivate the most delectable teas. We use these traditional manufacturing processes for our teas, reinforced with a modern scientific understanding of the process.
The first step in this process is the delicate hand-picking of the leaves; they are then left on racks to wither slowly and naturally. The leaves are then carefully rolled into the characteristic twirled shape of Keemun black tea to stimulate the natural flavonoids.
After this, they are left to slowly oxidize over time – allowing the natural polyphenols within the leaves to be oxidized by an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase. The polyphenols then combine with other polyphenols to form compounds called theaflavins, giving the leaves a bright coppery colour.
We take extra time with the withering, rolling and oxidisation processes, allowing the leaves a slow and leisurely transition to yield a more nuanced, aromatic and flavourful tea.
Finally, the leaves are dried using a firing process. This stops the oxidisation process, and turns the leaves their distinctive black colour –and seals in the subtle, smooth and delectable taste of Keemun Black Tea.