History

“I Love Thailand" TV Program visits Doi Inthanon Tea back in 2012

Mirror on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/41654075

High Quality Teas

Mission

Our mission is to grow and produce the highest quality hand picked teas possible in Thailand.

Description

Doi In* tea farm is located on The Kingdom of Thailand’s highest mountain. The farm is situated at over 1500 meters (5000ft) altitude. The mountain provides the ideal altitude and we provide the attitude. What more could you need?

Background:

Historically, all the lands in this area here were used by Hmong tribesmen for subsistence farming, were also used for poppy cultivation. This being that poppies were the only viable cash crop at the time due to little or no road infrastructure. After many years of cultivation the soil in the field was basically depleted of all nutrients, the former owner then sold the field off. The next owner tried to eke a living out of the already depleted soil by raising cabbages and other vegetable crops, when this proved untenable, the new owner planted a peach orchard, and left off tending this plot of land to work on more profitable land below in the flat lands.

In spring 1999 Doi Inthanon Tea Partnership acquired the field where we grow tea at today. We decided to remove the peach orchard. We then cut down, burnt and removed all the brush and overgrowth that had taken over this fallow plot of land. In early summer of 1999, due to the large amount of rocks we found it necessary to terrace the field. We then planted the first tea seedlings of #17 Yuan Tze on the bottom 1 acre (3200sqmt, 4 mu, 8 xau). This consisted in 3000+ tea seedlings. In 2000, we planted the next batch of tea seedlings on the top half of the field. This took over 3000+ trees, but this time we chose to plant #12 variety of tea seedlings.

The soil was predominately sandy loam with very little or no organic material. We began to produce compost near our home and then transport it to the tea field. On the average year we applied 60 cubic meters+ of organic compost. Over a period of 3 years we watched the sandy loam begin it’s transformation into what we know as healthy soil, full of earthworms.

Currently Doi In* has 5 acres of land under cultivation. Half is under tea cultivation, the other half is split up between Japanese persimmons and Chinese Black Mulberries. The soil is sandy loam with a healthy scattering of rocks, stones and boulders.

Doi In* grows 2 strains of tea, Yuan Tze #17 and #12. We then process the leaves by hand into Green and Oolong teas.

All processes on the farm from daily maintenance to all aspects of tea production are done solely by hand. This ensures that the highest quality of tea is the result.