Kumaon White Tea 2026 (NEW)

Kumaon White Tea

Tasting Notes: Fresh honeydew melon, peeled cucumber, and spring flowers

Place: Kumaon, North India

Tea Makers: Champawat Village

Ingredients: Organic White Tea

Hand-plucked from 200-year-old tea bushes in the mountains of Kumaon, this white tea captures the freshness of spring in every cup. Delicate leaves and silvery buds produce a beautifully layered infusion with notes of honeydew melon, peeled cucumber, and a soft floral aroma reminiscent of a mountain garden in bloom.

This new harvest is the finest expression of Kumaon White we have tasted to date. Years of experimentation, learning, and dedication from our tea-making partners have resulted in a tea with greater clarity, balance, and depth than previous harvests. If you've enjoyed Kumaon White with us before, you'll immediately notice the evolution in craftsmanship. And if this is your first experience, you're tasting a tea that represents just how far this remarkable origin has come.

Brewing Instructions: 2 Tbsp /2.5 g  |  8 oz water |  170° F temperature  |  3 min 

Net Wt: 1 oz (28g) in a resealable elegant rice paper bag or 22g in a black elegant tin

The Kumaon Story

Kumaon White is a white tea with remarkable depth and presence. Fresh notes of peeled cucumber and honeydew melon unfold in a smooth, full-bodied cup that sits somewhere between a delicate white tea and a floral green tea. Bright, refreshing, and beautifully balanced, it is a tea that rewards slow sipping. Crafted from carefully selected spring leaves, this tea captures the freshness of the Himalayan mountains while offering a richness rarely found in white teas.

One of the reasons we love sharing teas from Kumaon is the story behind them. Our friend Raj from Young Mountain Tea believed that the future of tea should be built through partnership, not just sourcing. He began working directly with Kumaon farmers, helping create new pathways for their teas to reach the specialty tea world while ensuring that more of the value remained within the communities that grow them.

Kumaon White holds a special place in that journey. When Raj and his partners first began working in the region, white tea was not part of Kumaon's tea-making tradition. Together with tea maker Desmond Birkbeck, they experimented with the youngest leaves from some of the oldest tea bushes in the Indian Himalayas. What started as an experiment became one of the first Kumaon white teas crafted specifically for the global specialty tea market, opening a new chapter for tea in the region.

At My Tea Places, we've carried Kumaon White for several years, and one of the greatest joys has been watching the tea makers refine their craft with each harvest. This year's release reflects that growth. Through years of experience, improved processing techniques, and greater attention to detail, the tea displays even more clarity, sweetness, and balance while remaining true to the character that first made us fall in love with it.

Today, Kumaon White is produced through a farmer-owned tea factory built in partnership with local communities. Most of the farming partners are women, and through shared ownership, fair pricing, and pre-season payments, they participate more fully in the success of every harvest.

Elegant, vibrant, and deeply meaningful, Kumaon White represents everything we love about tea: exceptional craftsmanship, enduring friendships, and the power of long-term partnerships. It remains one of the teas we are most proud to share.