Our Teas
Arakai Estate Artisan Teas - Our Teas, award winning green and black tea
OUR TEAS
We're breaking the rules as far as tea production goes!
Japanese green tea varieties - Processed in the Taiwanese Style - for Australian Tastes.
When brewed correctly, our teas won't produce a bitter brew strong in tannin. Instead, you will find a complex mix of floral, aromatic & sweet notes. Our range of tea flavours have been likened to renowned areas from Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan.
A mix of curiosity, necessity and inventiveness have brought us to our final tea products.
For the moment we have four different tea products :
Spring Flush Green, Spring Flush Black, Premium Green & Premium Black
Our Spring Flush Green & Spring Flush Black teas come from the first harvest in Spring after a Winter dormancy. This first Spring harvest is the prime cut of tea, prized around the world for the unique qualities of flavour, aroma and cup smell. All of which you will find in Arakai Estate's Spring Flush tea, as well as a long, lingering sweetness in the mouth.
We only get one shot at this harvest and we put everything into ensuring a uniform plantation and clean harvest. Many a late night is spent in the processing factory gently coaxing the finest qualities from the leaf. It can take up to three days from harvest to the final dry - always tasting, smelling and sorting to ensure only the best leaves make it through the process.
“Ever wonder what the love child of a Taiwanese high mountain oolong and a Japanese green is? This is your tea and it is pure bliss. Complex, smooth, and sweet! 9.5 out of 10”
“..the spring green tea evokes memories of high mountain oolongs, while the spring black tea I found to be very reminiscent of the more oxidised Balhyochas.”
From the late Spring, Summer and early Autumn harvests come our 'Premium' range of Green and Black tea. We use the same process and same high level of quality control in harvesting and sorting to create these light and refreshing teas.
We produce much higher volumes of these two teas, but still stand behind them as strongly representing the quality and flavour that Arakai Estate is dedicated to producing.
“Absolutely fabulous green tea. It’s the first time I drink an Australian tea and for a first time it’s a success. A smooth green liquor gives you buttery, floral notes without astringency or bitterness. It’s a really great green tea which can compete with the best of the most known green tea.
5 out of 5”
estate statistics & information
- Six different Japanese small-leaf varieties of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis :
- Majority of plantation is Yabukita & Sayamakaori.
- Smaller numbers of Meirokyu, Yutakamidori, Fushin & Okumidori.
- Plantation size is 1 hectare, with over 12,000 plants and just over 5km of tea hedges. We harvest every 4 - 5 weeks from September to April.
- All plant nutrition is from a mix of certified & non-certified organic inputs. This includes microbial innoculants to reduce Nitrogen requirements to keep our tea full of natural flavour instead of synthetic additives.
- There are no pesticides or fungicides used on our farm. Herbicides are occasionally used in weed management when necessary but our teas are guaranteed spray-free and residue-free.
- Our plantation is pruned & harvested using our own creation - the mighty bike harvester. It is a human-powered, low-impact machine that cuts following the contours of the land with remarkable accuracy and reliability.
- All of our teas are guaranteed to be grown & processed on-farm at Arakai Estate in Bellthorpe, QLD. We don't, and won't, import tea from overseas to mix with our products.
Arakai Estate Green Tea
Arakai Estate Black Tea
