“If you don’t think Chanui is the best tea you’ve ever tasted, we’ll refund the purchase price.”
These are the famous words of Chanui founder Doug, ringing out through the ages from 2011.
You have to understand, this was a different time. Bell, Lipton, Dilmah, these were the pillars of Kiwi tea-drinking culture. I use the word “culture” purely in its technical sense, not wishing to imply any sort of complexity or nuance.
Who was this strange interloper, suddenly gracing our TV screens? Simultaneously claiming that this was “New Zealand’s tea” while also espousing the virtue of mainlining 100% pure Ceylon black.
You’ve gotta give Doug the respect. His story is that he came back to Aotearoa after guzzling untold litres of the world’s finest teas, flabbergasted at the flavourless weak bags of factory floor sweepings available on Kiwi pantry shelves. He wanted to make a difference, and a difference he made.
This particular tea is a cut-torn-curled, CTC-style tea. You want to talk surface area? Your top-end dried tea has tiny surface area, talks to the H2O from both sides of a leaf the size of a cat’s tongue. CTC is busted up into little balls with potentially infinite surface area. CTC is in touch with your water, steeps like an oil leak, drinks like an espresso.
The beauty of CTC is that it infuses fast and strong. The drawback is that it is probably not the finest tippy.
I can’t say I know why Chanui describes this as the special reserve, when it’s just a reserve. I do keep a box, though, hidden at the back of a shelf in the kitchenette of my shared office. Beats the hell outta the bulk-bought bags of whatever kept in a glass jar by the sink.
Is it the best tea I’ve ever tasted? No, but I’m not going to ask for my money back. I have basked in the golden glory of century-old Puer. I have sipped on the fresh harvest in Darjeeling, as the sun rose over the Himalayas. It’s not Doug’s fault. Doug did good. Doug beat back the Dark Ages and made cultural space for something better than brownish water. Is it the best tea I’ve ever tasted? It certainly would have been in 2011.
