Natur Boutique is putting Vietnam tea back on the map
Ask people where the origin of Britain’s most famous drink is and you’re likely to get a reply of either China or India. Whilst it’s probably true that the first cultivated tea came from China, before the Brits set up farms in India, it is believed the oldest tea trees in the world are from Vietnam where local Hmong people have been picking the leaves of wild trees for thousands of years.
Today an innovative company called Natur Boutique is hoping to put Vietnam back on the map for its teas; showing not only why it produces some of the best green tea in the world, but also how we can benefit from some of the country’s other tea drinking traditions.
Natur Boutique have worked closely with tea producers in Vietnam to produce a range of organic and natural teas, which are now available throughout the UK in Holland and Barrett shops, health stores and delis. The teas have been blended with Western tastes in mind and many have potential health benefits, such as their green tea Diet blend or a relaxing Lemongrass & Green Tea drink, but the company’s director, Anton Le Khak, explains that the success of the teas has less to do with his master blenders and more to do with nature and the Hmong people’s traditions.
“The green tea we use is from wild trees, not like the cultivated bushes people are used to seeing. Growing at altitude means the tea leaves mature slowly, giving them a richer flavour. Furthermore the leaves are handpicked ensuring only delicate buds and young leaves are used, which hold the best flavours. The tea is totally organic, grown without chemicals or pesticides. Instead the local people use traditional methods to look after the trees, such as growing Neem plants amongst them to act as a natural insect repellent. The result is a delicate and subtle green tea with a rare purity of flavour.”
It’s not just green tea blends that Anton hopes will highlight how good Vietnamese tea can be. Natur Boutique have also brought one of the first 100% organic ginger teas to the UK market. Most ginger teas are blended with other ingredients because ginger tea can have a slightly bitter taste on its own. As with the green tea leaves Natur Boutique uses however, their ginger is organic and allowed to grow slowly in the rich fertile soils of the Vietnamese highlights. This gives the ginger a sweeter flavour than normal and lends it perfectly to making tea, producing an outstanding sweet spicy taste with no bitterness.
The company’s most unusual, and most popular, tea is their Organic Artichoke Tea. A traditional drink of the Lam-Dong highland region in Vietnam, where an abundance of artichokes are grown after being introduced by the French, Natur Boutique’s version is the only organic artichoke tea available in the UK. Drunk not only for its unique taste, artichoke extract has been shown to have potential to soothe IBS1 symptoms, making the drink popular with the millions of people suffering with the condition.
Whilst Anton realises that Vietnam will never match India or China when it comes to producing huge quantities of commercial tea, but he hopes that his Vietnamese teas can help show that the country produces some of the best tasting blends available and that retailers will follow the lead of the likes of Holland and Barrett in offering their consumers this choice.
For further information visit www.naturboutique.co.uk.
