Two more new teas from Bell!

Just realised that I haven’t mentioned two new teas that we’ve added to the Bell family over the past couple of weeks – there’s a lot to talk about at the moment!

So, Zesty Berry is the latest addition to our green tea range. As with India Origin, we’re secretly hoping we might have another world-first, since we think it might be the only green tea in the world that isn’t actually green, but pink (or ‘ruby’, as we like to call it).

As with the rest of the Zesty Green range, I source the tea for the new variant from the Zhejiang Province on the eastern Coast of China. If you’ve read earlier blogs, you’ll know that I’ve just returned from a trip there, where I re-connected with my friend and our supplier, Liu Zhiming of the Shanshan Tea Company, and visited the famous Dragonwell estate.

Anyway, if you’ve enjoyed the rest of our Green tea range, please try Zesty Berry. It’s blended with all natural ingredients – raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberry, and of course, you get all the antioxidant benefits of the green tea as well as the taste.



Secondly – and long overdue according to many of you – we’ve released our Kenya Bold blend in leaf tea form. It appears I’m not alone in my love for a stronger brew, and Kenya Bold has developed a real following. However, many of you have had to make do with the teabags (which are still great by the way), when really you’re committed leaf tea drinkers. Well, no longer! We’ve listened, and hopefully Kenya Bold Leaf will be on a shelf near you very shortly.

Bell's Latest Blend: India Origin

It is great to know having just returned from my travels that the first packs of our new India Origin Tea have hit the shelves in the South Island. Thought it worth introducing on my blog. In fact I took a couple of packs out with me to Vietnam and China to show my colleagues there and they thought it was great.

India Origin grew from a seed of an idea over a cup of tea in the old tasting rooms at 305 East Tamaki Road. We were reflecting on the success of Kenya Bold and the loyal following that has grown with it, and we thought where next on our journey to bring the world's greatest teas to New Zealand? Indian tea has long been a favourite of mine and I told a story about how one of my first jobs in the UK was to hand- blend finest Assam and Darjeeling teas for Buckingham Palace. Less than a year later we have brought India Origin to market. It has been a great team effort. All our blends within the Bell portfolio are unique to us and New Zealand, but India Origin is truly a first on a world scale. We have taken two of the world's greatest teas, Darjeeling and Assam and brought them together, which many people, including respected tasters I know, said couldn't and, possibly shouldn't, be done. We've done it anyway.

India Origin is a blend of India's two great teas; the elegant vitality of Darjeeling and the velvety smoothness of Assam. It is perfect late in the afternoon, shared with others and goes very well with food. Of all our great blends this is truly one to be savoured, and to take some time over!

My time in Vietnam

This was my first visit to Vietnam and one I have been really looking forward to. I landed in Ho Chi Minh City (still called Saigon by the locals) and the first thing that struck me was the sheer number of scooters on the road, incredible.

I was given some good advice about crossing the road on foot, set-off and maintain a good even pace and they will work round you, don’t whatever you do speed up or slow down or worse…stop!

The tea producing regions are a 4-5 hour drive north-east of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), and in the north a 4-5 hour drive north-west of Hanoi the capital.

We are packed a lot into 7 days changing location every day, and all all this has been made possible by our main contact Duong, who we call the “fixer” and he has certainly opened many doors for us as well as being tremendous fun to travel with.

The Van Rees team in Hanoi, including Robin Lavoij who traveled from Toronto to accompany me to Vietnam and also to China. I was impressed with this team and return convinced that we have the right sourcing team for Vietnam.

It wasn’t all tea, we visited a coffee producer as well and cupped some much improved Vietnamese coffees. I will tell David Burton our coffee blend master about this!

I thought Vietnam was one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited, and everyone was so friendly and hospitable.

My interview with MiNDFOOD

As promised by Jessica in an earlier comment, below is a link to an interview I did with MiNDFOOD.

Have a read, and be sure to make any comments or ask any burning questions that you may have!

Matt Greenwood tea expert | Food & Drinks | MiNDFOOD

Notes from China, Tues 27th May 2009

Sitting at HangZhou station with Glen, our ops director, waiting to catch a train back to ShangHai, having a refreshing cup of oolong tea and reflecting on what has been a very special day indeed for both of us. In the morning we said farewell to Robin Lavoij from Van Rees Toronto, who arranged such a good trip to Vietnam for me and then joined us on the China leg too.

Our wonderful host here in HangZhou (one of the 6 ancient capitals of China), Liu Zhiming head of ShanShan Tea, took us to visit Dragonwell (LongJing in Mandarin) just outside of HangZhou City. If you are a tea taster or tea lover then Dragonwell tea would be right up there as the most famous tea in the world and somewhere I have always wanted to visit. Zhiming told us that Dragonwell is still regarded as the highest ranked tea in China.

Local people would come to the deep well here and pray for rain, which often seemed to work, and is obviously very good for the tea and other crops grown in the region.

Dragonwell is so named because if you stir the top of the water with a stick, which we did, then the ripples on the surface of the water resemble a dragon

On the way to visit the ancient site we stopped at a small tea field just at the side of the main road as 3 women were plucking the small and widely spaced tea bushes.

We took some photos and filmed a few shots and Zhiming talked to the women. They were plucking only the finest and softest leaves and buds from the tips of the bushes. Hundreds of white butterflies accompanied them!

They were a family who owned 8 rows of tea bushes and handmade Dragonwell green tea at their family home in the nearby village.

We were thrilled when we were invited back to see how they made one of the finest of the world’s green teas. They were quick to tell us that the very best Dragonwell tea is made between mid-March and the first week in April, but we would still see green tea from the “middle crop”.

They dried the tea we had seen them pluck on bamboo trays for a couple of hours, then rolled the leaves by hand and transferred the leaf to what appeared to be a large electric wok just inside the front door to their house. This is “pan-frying” at its most gentle and enough to lock in all of the sweet fresh flavours of the young tea leaves. Within a few hours we had drunk the tea we had seen plucked earlier in the day. I even ate the leaves it was so good. We all bought some of this very special tea to bring home to New Zealand with us feeling very privileged to have been invited to experience this.

Zhiming came up with the best quote if the day, “This really is Fair Trade” he said and we both thought he was spot on is, personally bought with cash straight from the growers house!

Image of Dragonwell Tea Gardens, China

Off to Vietnam

Off to Vietnam on Saturday evening. Had a real nightmare with my passport and visa - too many stamps and not enough spare pages left - but it’s all come good, and my bags are (nearly) packed. My first visit and really looking forward to it especially as they showed the Top Gear special from there in NZ a few weeks ago - brilliant programme, fantastic country.
I land in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and make my way to Da Lat and the tea estates of the south. I’ll be visiting growers in both North and South Vietnam and hoping to taste some great teas from the new season’s growth. Vietnamese tea has been getting better and better over the past few years, and they’re making some good speciality teas, most of which are exported to China.
After that I head for ShangHai and Zhejiang Province in China. My friend Liu Zhiming at the Shanshan Tea Company has promised me some fresh new seasons green teas to taste, and it’ll be good to catch up with him again. This is where we source our Zesty Green Tea from.
Glen Ryan, our Ops Director, is joining me for the China leg. It’s his first trip to tea plantations and what better place to start, China being the home of tea and where it all began 5000 years ago. We’re hoping to visit the West Lake area, home of world famous Dragonwell Tea. Story goes that many centuries ago the very finest leaves were picked for the emperor with golden scissors. I’m looking forward to travelling with Glen and to showing him around. Back on the 1st June.