From the misty ridges of Malawi’s Shire Highlands comes a bold reimagining of a Chinese classic. Inspired by the legendary Lapsang Souchong, this African-grown tea is hand-harvested with care and smoked using fragrant guava wood—a regional twist that imparts a softer, fruit-tinged smoke profile.
Lighter than its Chinese counterpart, Smoky Highlands delivers a layered cup with notes of campfire, roasted chestnuts, and warm malt. The smoke is present but balanced, allowing the tea’s natural richness to shine through.
Grounded and evocative, it’s a fireside journey in a cup—deeply rooted in place, yet globally inspired.
A word from the tea farm:
This tea was developed by the great grandson of the founder of Satemwa Tea Estates. Inspired by the long tradition in Malawi of smoking products as a natural form of preservation he started to experiment with crafting an EU MRL compliant smoked tea from Malawi. We use a blend of 3 endemic Malawian tea cultivars to form a well bodied and balanced black tea base. We developed our own unique smoking equipment on Satemwa and we tweaked it to perfection. Smoking time, moisture content, the right smoke balance, after treatment,… all need to be mastered. We smoke this unique black tea blend with the wood and the leaves of the Guava tree. We tried several wood types and thought that this exotic tree gave the perfect taste combination with our black tea blend. Furthermore, the Guava trees around some of the Satemwa tea fields are also the host of the mosquito bug. This little mosquito is feeding on the nerves of the tea leaves. By removing the guava trees around the fields we also remove the host for this bug in a complete natural way. By using this Guava tree to give an amazing smoky taste to our tea there is even an extra bonus.
Smoky Highlands
Aroma: Smokey
Body: Medium-bodied
Flavor Profile: Campfire, roasted chesnuts, malt