Love pungent peppery flavours? Then this naturally spicy tea could be just the drink for you.
“The idea of pepper tea occurred to us when a customer mentioned that peppers are widely used in Asia together with traditional herbal medicine (Chinese TCM and Ayurvedic medicine for example) as the oils from the pepper help with the absorption of nutrients from the herbs,” says Lai Poon Piau, founder of Hong Spices.
When Lai opened Hong Spice’s Kampot Pepper farm in 2013, it was with the primary aim to reestablish sustainable economic agriculture in the Kampot region through local employment, bioresearch, and environmental conservation efforts. Kampot and the surrounding area were awarded Protected Geographical Indication status in 2010, and this helped boost the growth of the local pepper industry.
When it comes to farming, Lai believes in an “organic approach employing bio-nutrients and micro-organism techniques to maintain soil health and provide effective pest control without the need for any harmful chemical pesticides”.
On his farm, Lau allows nature to take its course. Pepper vines need to be three years old before the peppercorns are harvested and only the best berries are selected for use in the pepper tea. During harvest season (around June every year), the berries are allowed to fully develop on the vine so they have the fullest flavour. The berries are then harvested, sorted, processed and dried to create what is considered to be one of the best peppers in the world. As harvest is dictated by nature, supply can be limited.
To produce this deliciously spicy pepper tea, dried peppers are ground with other dried pepper aromatics (pepper spikes, pepper flowers, etc) from the vine. Some organic palm sugar is added to complement the pepper aroma. Add some hot water (not boiling hot) and the result is a an aromatic, pleasant tea that tastes sweetsour for a brief moment before the spiciness comes into play, tingling your taste buds and stimulating blood circulation.
Lai is currently looking for a suitable vendor to manufacture and pack the pepper tea into retail packs; the packing of tea into sachets is still, at the moment, done by hand.
