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About Our Tea
Kinnettles Gold
Each small batch of our Kinnettles Gold is individually hand rolled. At the end of the season we combine these batches joining first and second flush. We only make 2 - 3Kg each year of our rare tea. The care taken in producing this tea is reflected in the apple notes, long lingering mouthfeel and natural sweetness of the liquor.
Five Gold Rings
At Kinnettles Tea Garden we process the leaf from five tea gardens in Angus, Fife and Kincardineshire. The sourcing from five different locations gives depth to this fruity tea expressing the differing aspects of our gardens. It has notes of strawberry, no astringency, and a delicate lingering silky mouthfeel.
How We Make Our Tea
Welcome to the process of creating beautiful teas at Kinnettles. We take great pride in producing artisan teas, working with micro machinery and rollers, hand rolling and giving the plucked leaf from our garden the attention to detail required to make beautiful tea. Find out how we make them below:
The leaf is transferred to the oven where the fragrance is fixed, locking into the leaf this delicate scent.
Fixation
The leaf is then left to rest to allow the bruised leaves to oxidise. This causes the leaf to darken. The volatile fragrance from the oxidising leaf peaks after a few hours and a 'pitch perfect' delicious scent is reached.
Oxidation
The leaf is transferred to boards for hand rolling or if there is a larger batch, then to a mini roller. Rolling bruises the leaf and skill lies in not breaking the leaf.
Rolling
Freshly plucked leaf is taken from the plucking baskets, weighed and laid on the withering trough. Air is passed over the leaf to gently remove moisture. Over 14 - 20 hours chemical processes take place as the cell walls of the leaf collapse.
Withering and moisture removal
Black Tea
After the leaf has been removed from the oven a couple of grams are put aside for tasting and checking the batch. The rest of the Green tea is bagged, sealed and stored to await tea tastings by our visitors.
Tasting
Crafted in tiny quantities we use cooling racks to transfer the leaf onto immediately after steaming. The leaf is then lightly rolled to give it shape before heat is applied. A further rolling takes place before the leaf is then fired in the oven.
Artisanal Small Batches
Our leaf to be made into Green Tea is steamed immediately. "Fixing the Green'. This holds the colour of the leaf and arrests the chemical process's that would take place if this was to have been made into a black tea and withered.
Swift processing
Green Tea
A Guide to Steeping Our Tea
The enjoyment of our beautiful full leaf teas is also in the preparation. Take time to enjoy steeping the leaf properly to get the maximum pleasure from your cup of tea. Find out how to steep them below:
Take freshly boiled water. Pour onto the leaf - you need just 2g of leaf per cup (200ml) and allow this to steep for 3 - 5 minutes depending on taste. Pour off all the liquor when ready, so the leaves are not left sitting in bit of water in the bottom of the pot.
When ready pour fresh boiling water on the leaves for a second infusion.
A Black Tea
All green teas should not be overstepped as they have a tendency to become bitter. Boiling water should not be poured on the leaf as this too makes a green tea go bitter quickly. The water should be at 75 - 80C. In the case of our Steamed Green the water should be 80C. When making green tea, if you don’t have a kettle that you can set at 80C, then you can either do the 2/3 boiling water to 1/3 cold water and then pour on the leaf, or the most satisfying way is to take a saucepan and place it on the oven ring, (slow down and enjoy the experience) and let the bubbles start to form on the bottom of the pan. They bulge like fish eyes and this is the ideal temperature - (when they start to stream up the water is too hot for a green tea). When you have poured the water on the leaf with this green tea it only needs 2 minutes to steep. This is a sweet cup of tea. The second infusion can be for 3 minutes and is different in flavour as the catechins pass into the liquor -with this cup, the food pairing is to be appreciated. We take a third infusion from this leaf which has a soft mouthfeel.
A Green Tea
If you are able to visit our tea garden, you can pluck some leaf to take away with you and make some white tea at home. The gentle removal of moisture from the leaf over three days will result in a cup of a light refreshing liquor. If you are not drinking the tea straight away then there needs to be an application of heat to extend the shelf life.
Artisanal Small Batches
White teas are a joy, simple to make, the most uncomplicated of teas as no physical processing takes place as with the black or green teas.
Simple Elegance
White Tea
