Ground Kemptown Menu

Tea

• Our Loose Leaf Tea
  “Make‎ a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they are in the field; in summer suggest coolness; in winter, warmth; do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain; and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration.” sen rikyu
• Silver Needle White Tea | Fuding Bai Hao Yin Zhen
  Very high in antioxidants, the buds are hand- picked at dawn and scattered in the sun to dry. The liquor is the colour of champagne and has a light creamy, delicate taste with sweet notes of melon.
• Dragon Well | Hang Zhou
  Complex and multi-layered with the irresistible combination of warm and creamy mouth feel, hazel nut notes and searing spring-freshness. The traditional method of making dragon well is what really sets it apart. Each individual tea bud is hand-pressed and shaped in a wok to achieve the perfect level of roasting.
• Huo Shan Huang Ya (Yellow Buds)
  Picked before the spring rains in april, this rare and delicious yellow tea is processed as a green tea but with the added step of being very lightly oxidised to create a sweeter, softer, more rounded taste. Huo shan huang ya is extremely refreshing and moreish with a hint of nuts and sweetcorn. The full flavour really kicks in once you’ve swallowed – the sweet complex notes linger on your tongue and allow you to savour every drop.
• Anxi Rou Gui Oolong Tea
  Rou gui is a very famous old wuyi tea-type known for its rich, slightly spicy flavours. The anxi varieties tend to be more lightly baked than traditional wuyi rou gui’s.
• Black Teas (Hong Cha)
  Black‎ tea, known in china as red tea, is fully oxidised whole leaf tea. The best whole leaf black teas are made by hand, in contrast to the commercial ctc (crush, tear and curl) machine-made black teas that make up 95% of the world tea market. Ctc tea undergoes a rapid and intense oxidation whereby the fresh leaves can be processed into finished black tea within an hour or so. Our black teas are oxidised slowly to create more complex and subtle flavours.
• Bai Lin Gong Fu
  One of the earliest (and best) chinese black teas ever to be produced, bai lin gong fu is made from buds twisted into tight elegant gold-streaked curls. The liquor is reddish-brown and tastes naturally of caramel and cream so needs absolutely nothing added. This is a wonderful example of whole leaf black tea. It it is a glorious breakfast tea and so reasonably priced for a tea of this calibre, it can be an everyday affordable luxury.
• White Tea (Bai Cha)
  White tea comes from the delicate buds and younger leaves of the chinese camellia sinensis plant. These buds and leaves are allowed to wither in natural sunlight (also known as wilting) before they are lightly processed to prevent oxidation or further fermentation. This protects not only the delicate flavour of the white tea, but also retains high levels of the chemicals responsible for the tea’s health benefits.
• Green Tea (Lu Cha)
  Green tea is made from the cooking (or firing) young tea leaves either in an oven or a specially made wok known as ding. Chinese tea makers used to cook green tea by steaming it and this is still the preferred method in japan. The firing process helps to preserve the tea’s colour and produces a fuller flavour and body. Green tea is characterized by nutty, sweet and vegetal flavours.
• Yellow Tea
  Yellow tea is a rare and expensive variety of green tea: processing methods vary and some are closely guarded secrets, but most yellow teas are made by covering lightly withered green teas with mats to allow a small amount of oxidation to occur. This has the effect of giving a yellow tinge to the leaves and a slightly sweeter, more rounded taste to the liquor. This was a high-quality ‘tribute tea’ served at the imperial court, hence, perhaps its name, yellow being the colour of the emperor’s robes.
• Oolong Tea
  Oolong tea is semi-oxidised, somewhere between green and black tea. The oxidation process takes 2-3 days after which the tea is roasted. There is great variety in the roasting process, ranging from light to dark, imparting quite unique styles and characteristics. Oolong is easy to brew and lacks the astringency characteristic of many green teas, hence its growing popularity in non-traditional markets.
• Pu-Erh Tea
  Puerh is a compressed, aged, post-fermented green tea made from special tea varietals that are grown and processed only in the lancang (mekong) river area of yunnan province. These leaves are processed into two main types: raw or green (sheng) puerh and cooked or black (shou) puerh. Raw and cooked puerh subdivides further into compressed or loose versions.
• Canton Black Tea Blend
  A blend of yunnan black, keemum hao ya and bai lin gong fu. An excellent, well-rounded black tea blend that works with or without milk. Canton have taken no shortcuts with the quality of this blend, instead choosing to source three quality teas that offer the best balance of body, aroma and flavour.

• Organic Bohea Lapsang
  Rich, excitingly pungent, full of the rounded almost peaty smoke notes given by fires of local pine; complex and teasing with a hazel-sweet freshness behind the supple smoke. The difference between bohea and commercial lapsang is enormous, perhaps similar to the distinction between mass-produced whiskies and slowly made, properly aged, artisan malts. Drying the leaves slowly over bark-less pine wood fires gives wuyi bohea soft, lingering smokiness, making it very easy drinking yet sophisticated enough for after dinner tea.

• Rooibos (Red Bush)
  Rooibos tea is a naturally caffeine-free tisane made from the rooibos shrub aspalathus linearis, which grows only on the north western cape of south africa. The word ‘rooibos’ means ‘red bush’ in afrikaans, and is so-called because when the green, needle-like leaves of the plant are cut and left to dry in the sun, they turn a beautiful mahogany red colour. The rooibos plant is actually a member of the legume family: flowering plants, which also include beans and peas. This makes it quite different from conventional black or green teas, which are made from the leaves of the camellia bush, part of the theaceae family of trees and shrubs.
• Lemongrass
  Lemongrass is drunk all over asia as an aid to digestion. Originally used in south asian cooking, it is known to have a calming effect on the body, thereby helps in inducing sleep and curing insomnia. Lemongrass is also anti-bacterial and anti-fungal in nature, which makes it an effective remedy for a wide variety of complaints. Lemongrass tea, provides relief from nausea, severe menstrual cramps and acts as a diuretic too.
• Chamomile
  Chamomile comes from the greek for “ground apple,” which is roughly how the crushed flowers smell. Chamomile has a distinctly apple like taste and aroma. In fact, the word chamomile, as we now know it, comes from the ancient greek kamai-melon, or “ground apple.” the spanish call chamomile “manzanilla”– or “little apple.”
• Fresh Peppermint Leaf
  A generous portion of fresh peppermint leaf.