Description
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Kumari Gold Black Tea
Kumari Gold is a black tea from Kanchanjangha Tea Estate in Nepal, featuring an abundance of golden tips.
The estate’s spearhead black tea offers a delightful aroma with notes of caramel and brown sugar. Its flavor profile is characterized by a full-bodied, smooth texture with a malty essence, accompanied by pronounced baked fruit and honey flavors, leading to an earthy, long-lasting finish. Notably, it boasts a relatively high caffeine level, minimal astringency, and abundant toasty sweet notes.
This tea holds a special significance to the producer. This is, because on the one side it derives its name from the Kumari, the revered living goddess in Nepalese culture. Additionally, it pays homage to the estate’s founder’s mother, who planted the first tea bush in the Tea Estate’s backyard in 1984.
Kumari Gold has garnered prestigious awards. These include the 1st place winner of the 2020 Toronto Tea Festival and the 3rd Prize at the 2020 Paris Tea Competition AVPA.
The Tea Garden – Kanchanjangha Tea Estate & Research Center
Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Center is the first certified organic tea garden in Nepal. Established in 1984 by Mr. Deepak Prakash Baskota to rid his community of poverty, it remains a model social enterprise today, running on cooperative infrastructure and focusing on people and the planet before profit.
The tea garden produces high-quality organic teas, including black, green, white, and oolong teas. Situated in the foothills of Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, at an altitude of 1300-1800 meters (4,200 – 6000 feet), it benefits from pristine Himalayan climatic conditions, contributing to the unique terroir of the highly aromatic teas produced there.
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The Processing – A Truly Exceptional Black Tea
The processing of Kumari Gold black tea involves a meticulous process with unique tweaks to traditional black tea processing techniques. At this, the meticulous artisan crafting from handpicked leaves serves to preserve the tea’s outstanding quality and unique flavor profile. Harvested during the second flush (summer season), only one or occasionally two leaves and the terminal bud are delicately plucked, ensuring the highest quality yield.
The freshly hand-plucked leaves undergo a careful withering process lasting several hours, aimed at removing moisture while preserving leaf integrity for subsequent rolling. Rolling occurs in multiple stages with varying pressure levels, meticulously executed to extract essential oils and aromatic components without damaging the leaves. This process, lasting approximately 20-25 minutes, is crucial in shaping the tea’s flavor profile.
Following rolling, the leaves undergo oxidation, a process facilitated by exposure to oxygen. During this stage, the leaves undergo systematic turning and shifting at frequent intervals, enhancing both flavor development and the distinctive golden coloring of the buds.
At the peak of aroma development, the leaves transition to the drying process. This final step captures and preserves the complex flavors, aromas, and distinctive characteristics of Kumari Gold.
The Producer – Nepal Tea Collective
The Initial Spark
In the 1960s, a 15-year-old named Mr. Deepak Prakash Baskota visited the Darjeeling Hills in India. There, he was particularly inspired by the tea plantation and business. Returning to his village, Phidim, in Eastern Nepal, he envisioned starting a tea farm to alleviate poverty in his community. However, his initial pitch to villagers in the early 1970s was met with rejection. Undeterred, in the late 1970s, Mr. Baskota began planting tea seeds in his own backyard with his wife and friends. By 1984, he established the first Certified Organic Tea Garden in Nepal, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, after more than 100 farmers pooled their lands.
A Success Story
In 1991, Nischal Baskota, the youngest son of Deepak and Dambar Baskota, was born in the tea farm. After graduating from college in the US in 2015, Nishchal returned to Nepal. There, he opened the first tea bar in the country while also venturing into local tea marketing. In 2016, he founded Nepal Tea Collective, leveraging his knowledge of the local tea industry and aiming to establish an identity for Nepali teas. The following year, in 2017, Nepal Tea successfully launched one of the biggest Kickstarter campaign in the tea industry. The related crowdfunding campaign met the support of nearly 500 backers.
In the Cups of the World
Following the Kickstarter success, Nepal Tea Collective began to see significant recognition and growth. In 2018, their chai blend, Nepali Breakfast, gained recognition among the top 10 teas. Soon after, in in 2019, their white tea, White Prakash, won a bronze medal at the Global Tea Championship. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Nepal Tea adapted and expanded. When finally establishing a new office and warehouse in Long Island City, NY. By 2023, the company had grown into a twelve-member team with specialized talents in finance, marketing, design, and logistics, ensuring the continued success and global reach of Nepal’s finest teas. In this way, the tea from the footsteps of the Kanchanjangha has finally made it into the cups of tea lovers worldwide. And, last but not least, into Siam Tea Shop!
Preparation
Initially poor 2-3g/100ml Kumiari Gold black in a tea pot with boiling hot water (90°C-100°C). Then let infuse for 2-3 minutes, according to taste preference, for a delicious intensive first steep. After this, a subsequent infusion does a lot more than just keeping the pleasant aftertaste alive!
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oskar –
That’s indeed a high quality classic black tea. Nothing new but all good. Thomas talks about two really good infusions, but he is quite humble. I can enjoy three and a half of them. Half because usually I do the last one with less water. It’s flavorful and balanced. Be sure of not over steeping it. I used like 2,75 grams for 100ml using water at 95ºC. Brewing was 2:30 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and half water for a “set and forget” (maybe 8 minutes)…
Pedro –
A complex black tea, it has a citrus-like freshness that makes it special.