At Mana Organics and Chota Tingrai Tea Estate, we innovate on all fronts. From creating new social projects on the tea estate to applying new organic farming techniques, we strive to incorporate technology from around the world into our tea production to create a unique product of exceptional quality in every way.
Mana Organics Super Twist Organic Green Tea is the most recent result of our innovation efforts. Created in partnership with Japanese tea makers, this tea represents the culmination of a year’s worth of work. It represents the coming together of Japanese manufacturing with Indian leaf, organic practices with state of the art technology, and people from around the world.
When brewed, this tea has the flavor of refreshing grilled green vegetables and late summer picked corn that fill the entire mouth. The taste subdues to a mellow clean sweet taste at the end of the sip. As with most green teas, you can brew this tea twice and get an even better taste the second time around.
The Story of Super Twist’s Creation
Super Twist Green Tea was born out of an old desire. Morgan had tried to start green tea revolution in India in the 1980’s. He engaged a Japanese tea making family, the Haras, in collaborating on the technology. They go as far as constructing a green tea factory featuring bamboo machines that steamed the leaves in the Japanese style at Chota Tingrai Tea Estate, and planting Japanese tea varities in the garden. Unfortunately, Morgan had overestimated market interest at the time, and the product never took off.
Thirty years later, “green tea” is booming in India because of increased incomes and growing interest in healthy lifestyles. But most of the tea selling in the market doesn’t deserve to be called ‘green’ tea. Instead of being steamed, the tea leaves are plucked pre-maturely, and have the tannins squeezed out of it. This makes a tea that’s low in tannins, with an orange liquor, bitter, and sometimes smoky in taste—nothing like a steamed green tea.
Seeing the market opportunity, Morgan connects Avantika and Mrityunjay with the Haras. This new generation is keen to attempt Indian green tea again. Together, they identify top of the line green tea machines, and import them to India in eleven forty-foot cargo containers. It takes 2 months for the containers to reach Chota Tingrai, and within 10 days, under Shoji sans guidance, the team assembles the factory with a team of Japanese and Indian engineers.
Mr. Yanagawa joins the Chota Tingrai factory tea to oversee the first few years of factory operation. You can watch the factory in action below:
As green tea manufacture starts, we find that the Avantika’s organic Assam leaf behaves very differently than the Japanese. The unbroken leaves twist together in a curly pattern, unlike the Japanese sencha.
This is unlike any tea that the Jalans, or the Haras have ever tasted. In honor of its unique shape we named it super twist. We believe this is the next star of the tea world.
If you would like to try some today, please find it on our online store.