A tea enclave has emerged amid the Pyrénees Mountains, a pure barrier between France and Spain that runs over 430 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Whereas the world is renowned for its sheep cheese and is taken into consideration a paradise for hikers, it has not too way back started a model new type of agricultural enterprise: a terroir properly suited to tea. Lucas Ben-Moura, a youthful agronomist with a stage from the distinguished AgroParis Tech school, chosen to establish a tea plantation on his family’s land inside the hills of the Argelès-Gazost valley, a variety of kilometers south of Lourdes. Let’s retrace his journey.
The Genesis of the Problem: An Agronomy Scholar with a Penchant for Tea
All of it began in 2018 when Lucas Ben-Moura was a scholar at AgroParis Tech. An area of the Basque Nation, he grew up by the ocean in Biarritz, a space recognized for the usual of its merchandise. He gravitated in route of the notion of “terroir” and what it meant and was notably on this planet of wine. He was moreover a tea fanatic. After a variety of years of consuming flavored teas from a renowned French house, he found to grasp single origin teas, with a want for black teas from Nepal and Yunnan. All through a distinct segment yr in his agronomy analysis, he delved into the world of tea by three internships in tea-producing nations: Indonesia, the place he labored in pure plantations in Java and Bali, and Laos, the place he studied the forest tea commerce.
Sooner than heading to Asia, he contacted Denis Mazerolle, considered the pioneer of tea in France, whose thriving plantation, Filleule des féees, is located in southern Brittany. Denis despatched Lucas 25 tea vegetation of 4 varieties. He planted them inside the foothills of the Pyrénees, in Argelès-Gazost, the place his family owned a house and a few hectares of land, rigorously selecting a shaded and sheltered spot on the prime of the family yard. Coincidentally, Denis had not too way back based mostly the affiliation of European tea producers (Tea grown in Europe) and organized a go to for the members to China’s Zhejiang province that exact same yr. Lucas joined them, and these encounters and experiences in tea-producing nations fueled his need to flip right into a tea grower.
Once more in France: The mission launch
Upon coming back from Asia, Lucas found that the tea vegetation he had planted sooner than his departure had survived their first winter, suggesting adaptation to the model new mountainous terroir was attainable. Your entire family, Lucas’s mom and father, brothers, uncle and aunt, and cousins, who owned the land, have been ready to take part in his mission. Lucas took his budding enterprise thought and turned it proper right into a final-year mission at school. He joined the entrepreneurial program supplied by AgroParis Tech’s foundation, providing every financial sponsorship and expert steering. Professors would help him to stipulate the agronomic factors of his mission. A 3-stage progressive funding model enabled preliminary exams, planting new tea vegetation, soil analysis, and launching a donation advertising and marketing marketing campaign to fund the entire preliminary funding, following Denis Mazerolle’s tea sponsorship model. With this invaluable help and his family’s 2 hectares of land, Lucas Ben-Moura could launch his enterprise with financial autonomy.
A terroir suited to tea cultivation?
The Argelès-Gazost valley, a space of meadows irrigated by fairly just a few springs, served as a hayfield for stud farms and the neighboring cavalry regiment in Tarbes. As a result of the nineteenth century, it has moreover developed as a thermal spa area on account of its sulfurous water sources. Typical multi-produce farming geared in route of subsistence has given method practically solely to cattle and sheep farming. The world enjoys a warmth microclimate and superb daylight.
To develop tea, water, and daylight are actually vital. Nonetheless, the usual and specificity of the soil moreover account for an important part of the last word model. Lucas seen the encircling chestnut and fern forests as indicators of an acidic and well-drained soil suited to tea cultivation. Definitely, the soil is glacial moraines – or decomposed granite. These preliminary slopes are sheltered from the sturdy, chilly winds of the plain and normally should not subject to the acute chilly of higher altitudes. Whereas it would most likely freeze or snow in winter, tea vegetation tolerate chilly and snow reasonably properly. The important stage was how the long term plantation would reply to increasingly frequent drought episodes and the depth of daylight. The ultraviolet rays, with an index of 10-11, are practically twice as sturdy as in Brittany (between 6 and 7). Apart from these parts, all of the climate appeared to align for a model new tea terroir to emerge inside the Pyrenean foothills.
Among the many many heterogeneous two hectares of family land, an earlier terraced meadow bordered by a chestnut forest seems ideally suited. East-facing, it receives daylight until mid-afternoon. Inside the fall of 2019, with Denis Mazerolle’s assist, Lucas chosen 50 new tea vegetation and planted them on this plot.
Scale change: the Arrieulat plantation
When a model new crop is launched in a space, each half should be invented by trial and error.
In fall 2020, 3,000 vegetation from Filleule des Fées have been planted. This new French mountain terroir, with its extreme UV index and important temperature variations, appeared ideally fitted to producing every white and black teas. With the help of Denis Mazerolle, Lucas chosen vegetation for this manufacturing. 5,000 m2 have been planted on this former meadow, and a small area was examined with flooring horn.
Within the summertime of 2021, the first analysis was made after durations of winter chilly and summer season drought. Virtually half the Breton tea bushes did not survive, whereas others flourished and appeared utterly acclimatized. The utilization of fertilizers appeared superfluous on this soil, the place earthworms abounded. The crushed horn experiment would not be repeated. It had the affect of attracting badgers, which uprooted the youthful vegetation and feasted on the earthworms. As a result of encompassing biodiversity, parasite assaults, primarily aphids, have been self-regulated. The model to watch and the chance of manufacturing organically have been thus established.
Inside the fall, Lucas replanted tea vegetation from Italy, their genetic lineage indicating good adaptability and resistance: they’ve been initially Chinese language language seeds, had given rise to Georgian descendants, then Turkish, and finally Italian vegetation. Chinese language language and Nepalese vegetation achieved the model new selection. The soil was prepared with a niche on the planting spot for good root progress. No fertilizer was added, and the vegetation have been mulched.
This time, it was a success. No matter a scorching summer season in 2022, with temperatures exceeding 40°C, there have been few losses, and now, 4500 vegetation thrive on half a hectare inside the shade of chestnut bushes. Lucas continues to plant.
Inside the first yr of producing, the Arrieulat produced 13 kilograms of tea over the 5 harvests from early April to autumn, with a peak in spring. Lucas and his mother, who may also be his affiliate, take care of the maintenance of the crops—most likely probably the most time-consuming half—along with harvesting (bud and the first two leaves) and processing. Seasonal workers, paid by the day, usually assist. Lucas has moreover utilized a woofing system for tea fanatics, combining agricultural work with tasting intervals, facilitating rich exchanges about his teas.
Becoming a tea maker
Like those who preceded him in new plantations, Lucas Ben-Moura ought to adapt to hunt out the best approach to reap the benefits of his terroir. By the use of exchanges with tea producers and customers, he tried to know others’ methods, distinguishing what’s specific to a space and to the person involved on account of geographical and human constraints. A black tea and a white tea, however moreover, unexpectedly, a yellow tea from branches—three tea colors on this primary yr of producing, a mixture of inspiration from elsewhere, “counter-inspiration”, and native specificities.
The teas of the Pyrénees
To create his black tea, Lucas drew inspiration from the hand-rolling technique he discovered all through a hold in Nepal—a gentler course of than rolling on a stone, resulting in a homogeneous last end result. For now, he favors a fast oxidation to take care of the leaves barely inexperienced and offers roasting one or two months after manufacturing to realize fruity notes. The result is a light-weight, fruity black tea with a stunning freshness and significantly floral notes of hazelnuts, peanuts, and cocoa.
“Counter-inspiration” for white tea… In distinction to what Lucas seen in tea-producing nations the place withering and drying are two separate operations, he wanted to profit from the dry air inside the Pyrenees to proceed with prolonged withering repeatedly until dry. Each factor is completed indoors, with house home windows opened or closed if the local weather turns into humid. A comparative check out between photo voltaic drying and indoor drying happy him of his technique. The white tea from the Pyrenees provides intense freshness, roundness, and a stunning dimension with notes of meadow, flowers, and peach, holding up splendidly to reinfusion.
Lastly, Lucas launched right into a curiosity impressed by Japan and its Kyobancha—a tea from Kyoto Prefecture comprised of tea branches. He added a yellowing course of by transient fermentation to impart connoisseur notes with out overworking the roasting. The result is a barely structured nevertheless very spherical tea, with none bitterness and little or no astringency, nonetheless sustaining freshness and notes of cocoa and toasted bread. Inexperienced teas will come later, impressed by China, with tea vegetation planted in well-shaded areas.
Distribution of Pyrenean tea
The distribution circuit is ensured by quite a few fashions. Firstly, pre-sales by sponsorships, which moreover allow for planting. Product sales are moreover made straight on the Argelès-Gazost market, allowing Lucas to introduce his teas regionally and assemble purchaser loyalty. Lastly, a neighborhood of neutral retailers chosen for his or her expertise and dedication to prime quality enhances this very small manufacturing for his or her shoppers.
In route of a sustainable future
Lucas Ben-Moura’s main goal is to establish sustainable and worthwhile agricultural manufacturing whereas sustaining a very artisanal dimension with a most area of 1 hectare. Prime quality manufacturing is a vital parameter, enabling prices to cowl manufacturing costs whereas producing margin. This yr, 2023, demonstrated this threat.
Even when the primary goal of Arrieulat is agricultural, its vacationer potential is clear in a regional context the place wellness or yoga-focused mountaineering stays are on the rise. Native avid gamers and elected officers, initially in a “wait and see” technique to the mission, now perceive its full potential. Lucas moreover sees it as an educational mission, bringing customers nearer to the availability and letting them discover the entire manufacturing course of from origin. “Educating, welcoming people, and selling tea straight are a valorization of what we do,” says Lucas.
In the long run, he need to develop an actual native tea commerce with totally different farmers or breeders inside the space, providing them with manufacturing devices, just like the large 100 m2 white tea dryer he plans to place in in a barn in the meanwhile beneath restoration. Lucas is laying the first foundations for this commerce by producing some vegetation from nurseries from the seeds of his tea vegetation. The seeds have been harvested inside the fall of 2023, and the vegetation must be obtainable in two years. He moreover reaches out to anyone inside the space, advising and supporting new producers from the realm or the Basque Nation. He targets to point out “that it is attainable to produce prime quality tea in Europe, organically, with handbook deciding on and processing, all whereas producing truthful compensation for labor.”