Volition Tea | Tipsy Garden - A Gin Barrel Aged White Tea
Tipsy Garden is a gin barrel-aged white tea made in collaboration with farmer Huang Hai Qiang and KOVAL Distillery. Bolstering a flavor profile of juniper berries, grapefruit, honey and wildflowers, this tea will teleport you to a blooming garden under the mid-summer sun
As a tea purveyor whose mission is to share single-origin loose-leaf teas and shine a light on the tea farmers who have been for centuries rendered invisible, we found ourselves itching for an opportunity to pour our creative expression in a tea that is respectful to its roots yet innovative and dynamic.
It’s an attempt by farmer Huang and Volition to salvage sustainably-grown tea leaves that would otherwise be wasted because they do not qualify for Huang’s high tea leaf plucking standard for teas he typically produces. We then worked with a Chicago-based, woman-owned distillery called KOVAL to procure a wet gin barrel to begin the barrel ageing process. There is no rubric to follow and many risks ahead. White tea leaves are large and extremely porous; mold, excessive breakage, and over-extraction are all possible outcomes. After the dry leaves were in the barrel, we rotated the barrel every three days and pulled tea leaves out every week to assess their profile transformation and monitor moisture level. The result is a beautiful, 70-day barrel-aged white tea, bolstering a flavor profile of juniper berries, grapefruit, honey and wildflowers. This white tea will teleport you to a blooming garden under the mid-summer sun while sipping on your favorite gin-based cocktail.
This limited-edition Tipsy Garden barrel #1 was sold out within two weeks. Its groundbreaking production process impressed tea drinkers all over the country. But it goes far beyond the tea industry. We received feedback from the coffee community that to many of them this is the first time that tea excites them. As the specialty coffee industry at large recognizes the need to partner with tea purveyors who operate equitably and sustainably, Tipsy Garden opens a window to show everyone that you can still have flavored teas in a respectful, authentic, and innovative way.
