Gently Stirred
Loose Leaf Tea
Laos Laothang Orange Pekoe Green
This is a further
Laos addition to our already popular Laos black tea. It’s an absolutely
delightful tea. The olive-green leaves, with some silvertips included, smell
wonderfully. It makes a sunny yellow coloured tea that looks slightly hazy. Laos
or officially Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a socialist state landlocked
between Myanmar and China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the
southwest and Thailand to the west. The Somneuk Organic Project has been
developed to support the ethnic minority of the Phunoi people. The tea gardens
contain many ancient tea trees, and the project aims to expand and
professionalise tea cultivation in the Phongsaly province. The Lao People’s
Democratic government has according to the UN, in 2005, ensured poppy
cultivation was reduced to marginal levels, by making it illegal to grow opium.
This profitability will hopefully keep farmers away from opium cultivation, however
in 2008 the UNODC survey had found that 20% of former opium growing communities
had resumed poppy cultivation to generate income and for personal consumption.
Laos was the largest opium producing country in the world but by 1998 had
dropped to third largest. It is hoped that the farmers growing tea, coffee for
export and rice and maize for local consumption will benefit all the farming
communities. I really enjoyed this lovely tea, exactly everything you want in a
green tea, no bitterness just great flavour and taste.