Parkside in the Nilgiri Hills,

The tea from which our Nilgiri green tea is made, is grown at Parkside, an estate at 2,133m or 7,000 feet in the Nilgiri hills in southern India. Mike has been visiting and buying from Parkside for at least 40 years so when we needed a green tea we asked them to make it for us.

40 years on, I went to visit Parkside to meet the people on the ground and to experience the smell, touch and feel of the leaves at the various stages of production.  Lucky me! It's a beautiful part of the world and a great place to escape the heat of the Indian plains. The road climbs up through the foot hills through a series of hair pin bends with the landscape getting greener and greener and cooler and cooler.

I mention the height because tea grown at altitude, has long been prized for its superior quality. The cooler temperature in the hills slows the growth of tea bush which intensifies the flavour, sweetness and aromas. Green tea grown at height tends to be more delicate than the sharper green teas grown lower down, and Parkside's is a good example. It's soft and clean tasting We brew ours a little cooler than most black teas, with water off the boil. Our favourite way to drink it is to put a pinch of tea in the bottom of one of our pint mugs and wait for it to be cool enough to drink.