Angus and Susie Walker-Munroe have been growing tea at Kinnettles Farm in Angus, Scotland, since 2011 and their black tea has just been launched at PekoeTea in Edinburgh. Susie is the great, great, great niece of Robert Bruce who, with his brother Charles, was involved in bringing India’s Assam tea plants to the notice of the East India Company in the 1830s, so she has excellent credentials for growing tea in Bruce’s native land.
The new, single estate Kinnettles Gold is hand-rolled, and the golden tipped leaves infuse to yield a rich golden liquor. Only 2 kg of the tea has been produced in 2015, and is exclusively available from PekoeTea in limited-edition 20g tins. The next harvest will not be available until October 2016. This first harvest was processed using secret techniques, specially-developed for the Scottish climate with the help of tea consultant Beverly-Claire Wainwright, who has also worked to produce exquisite teas at Amba estate in Sri Lanka.
Beverly’s philosophy is to match processing methods to suit the terroir, rather than copying methods from other countries. As Scotland’s terroir is unique, Beverly and Susie have created unique processing methods to ensure the tea lives up to its full taste potential. Limited quantities of the tea are also available for tasting at PekoeTea’s Stockbridge store, Edinburgh, at £ 16 or $22.80 a cup.
Learn more: www.pekoetea.co.uk