Nepal Tea Collective

Terraced tea gardens at Kanchanjangha Tea Estate in the Himalaya of eastern Nepal

Tea from the Top of the World

We met the Nepal Tea Collective at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas — a small team carrying an outsized idea: that some of the finest tea on earth grows in the high Himalaya of eastern Nepal, on family farms most of the world has never heard of. We tasted our way through their collection, argued happily about favorites, and brought five teas home to Coconut Point mall.

This is where they come from.

A garden above the clouds

A tea plucker with a woven basket harvesting at Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Nepal

High in the hills between Ilam and Darjeeling, at 4,200 to 6,000 feet, sits Kanchanjangha Tea Estate — Nepal's first certified organic tea estate, run as a cooperative of small farmers since 1984. The air is cool, the sun is fierce, and the tea grows slowly, which is exactly what makes it taste like this.

The spring harvest there is a celebration: astrologers mark the auspicious days, and the first leaves of the year are gathered with blessings. Three of our five teas — Kumari Gold, First Flush Black, and White Prakash — come from this one remarkable garden.

Tea from the Everest region

A tea grower with a woven basket in the hills of the Everest region, Nepal

Farther north, in Solukhumbu — the Everest region — tea grows in home gardens scattered from 5,900 to 8,500 feet, among the highest tea gardens on earth. They exist because a non-profit, the Himalayan Project Nepal, spent decades building schools in the region before helping local farmers build something that could sustain them: the Bhakanje Tea Estate, founded in 2019. Its factory manager, Janaki Khadka, is the region's only female tea maker. Our Everest Black is hers.

The oolong maker of Mai Pokhari

A hand holding a freshly plucked tea shoot in Nepal

And in Mai Pokhari, in the Ilam district — biodiverse forest where red pandas roam — Man Kumar Mukhiya spent 14 years on a single quest: learning to make oolongs in Nepal that could stand beside the great oolongs of Taiwan and China. Our Himalayan Gaba Oolong is the proof he succeeded.

The five teas

Kumari Gold — from $20

Named for the founder's mother, who planted the estate's first tea bush in 1984. Caramel, baked fruit, and honey — and the most decorated tea we've ever carried: Gold at the 2024 Leafies, diplomas in Paris, a Toronto Tea Festival prize.

Everest Black — from $20

Earthy depth, a cool lift of eucalyptus, and sweet honey underneath — from home gardens up to 8,500 feet in the Everest region.

First Flush Black Tea — from $12

Spring's first leaves, picked with blessings in early March: bright, floral, impossibly fresh — black tea that changes minds about black tea.

White Prakash — from $20

Named for Deepak Prakash Baskota, who founded Kanchanjangha in 1984. Vanilla, buttercream, and fresh flowers; first place at the Toronto Tea Festival.

Himalayan Gaba Oolong — from $12

Orchid, gooseberry, and fig, from a maker who spent 14 years perfecting oolong in Nepal.

Why so little of it?

These teas are made in quantities measured in baskets, not shipping containers — one garden, one harvest, everything picked by hand. We bought what we could, and when a tea sells out, it can only come back with the next harvest, if the season allows. If one of them catches your eye, don't wait on it.

Come taste them

A tea grower smiling in the gardens of Nepal

All five are on the shelf now at Estero Bay Olive Oil & Tea in Coconut Point mall — come in and taste them side by side, and we'll tell you the stories properly.

In 2027 we hope to walk these gardens ourselves. Ask us about the trip next time you're in.