The adventure of Emilie Luro, a tea planter in the heart of the Pyrenees

The house, Un Air de Thé, met Emilie Luro, a tea planter in the Basque Country, in Macaye.

Émilie Luro approached Grégory Lehoux last July to have her first tea harvest appraised! We were delighted to welcome her to our Bordeaux boutique and tasting room. We wanted to share a wonderful moment of exchange and sharing with you in this new article!

1. Émilie Luro begins her tea plantation project in the Pyrenees "Les thés de Baigura" in 2022

Photo credit: Émilie Luro

A professional in the agricultural world, Émilie Luro works with her partner, who breeds dairy sheep in Macaye in the Pyrénées Atlantiques. This tea enthusiast has long infused the idea of ​​embarking on the tea adventure... And it was in 2022 that she decided to exploit a plot of land abandoned by the sheep "the grass is neither appetizing nor sufficiently nutritious for these young ladies, but on the other hand, it ticked many pediclimatic boxes for the establishment of tea plants "

• The Pyrenees, a land conducive to tea cultivation

Photo credit: Émilie Luro

Emilie 's plantation, with an area of ​​9 ares, is located in the heart of the Basque Country, at the foot of the Baigura mountain. This small plantation has ideal conditions for growing tea plants: sloping land that allows good drainage, a northeast exposure, the soil that favors sunshine until 4 p.m., and finally, the presence of a stream that flows in the middle of the plot and provides constant humidity. It is thanks to this natural irrigation that Emilie's plantation was able to survive the drought of 2022 .

• Difficult beginnings marked by the drought of 2022

Émilie began planting 150 tea bushes in late spring 2022, but a month later, the region was in the midst of a drought, and she lost half of her plants. " I thought, if they could survive these conditions, they could survive anything. The following year, I planted about 500 more. "

These difficult beginnings do not stop Emilie 's motivation in any way, she knows that she is only at the beginning of her project. In the fall of 2023, she will make her own seedlings which are currently growing in a nursery and which will be planted in the spring of 2025. Very soon, she will try at the end of summer 2024 to make her own cuttings "The cutting is more fragile than a tea plant grown from seed but it keeps a pure genetic heritage. A tea plant grown from seed will be better adapted to its environment, but may present less efficient genetic characteristics than a tea plant grown from cutting, which will be strictly identical to the mother tea plant"

• Émilie testifies to the wonderful solidarity between the tea planters of the Pyrenees who support each other and increase exchanges

Émilie isn't the only one trying her hand at tea in the Pyrenees! We've already met several tea enthusiasts: Lucas Ben Mourra, a tea grower in the Hautes-Pyrénées, whose teas we've been selling in our shops since 2023. (Read our article on his plantation, Les thés de l'Arrieulat) We also delivered a training module to several planters in the Basque Country in 2023: Mikel Esclamadon in Ustaritz, Jean-Philippe Landrieu, Marianne Dayon, both in Guethary, and Mylène Dupuy Althabegoity in Sainte Engrâce. They form a group of tea planters called Euskal Tea. (Read our article: Basque Country planters at un air de thé)

" I have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for my colleagues in our Euskal Tea group. They all have 1 to 2 years more experience than me, and they reached out to me when I started planting, with their advice, support, motivation and kindness. We meet 2 to 3 times a year, and are in contact almost daily by phone. We take turns inviting each other to visit our plantations, we discuss each other's cultivars, the agronomic practices implemented, our individual experiments, disease management, pests, weeds, tea picking and processing, etc. Many of them have been abroad (Japan, India, Nepal), and brought back knowledge that they shared with us. Sometimes, speakers come to lead our meetings."

2. The first harvest of Baigura teas in this year 2024!

• A first micro-harvest

2024 is the year of Emilie's first harvest! She explains that she deliberately chose to harvest a small quantity so as not to exhaust her tea plants; she wants to prioritize their growth. Indeed, it takes a minimum of 5 years for the tea plant to reach its adult size. I harvested very few leaves, twice this year, to try to familiarize myself with the processing. I harvest and process the tea alone, and that remains a goal for later: to manage the tea business alone. My partner, however, provides valuable assistance with maintenance using the brush cutter .

• Emilie Luro handcrafts her first Pyrenean tea leaves

Initially, Émilie chose to make her leaves into black tea, but in a few years she also plans to produce Oolong tea because it is her favorite tea family! "I would like my teas to be full-bodied, spicy with notes of ripe fruit, and very slightly astringent. But since I don't yet know the terroir of my plot, I will adapt to what the nature of the soil and the cultivars of my tea plants offer me."

This first attempt at transformation is completely artisanal; it took 3 and a half days from withering to fixation. The tea leaves were withered and oxidized in the sun, then Émilie rolled the leaves by hand and finished by fixing them in the oven and wok.

• A desire to produce quality tea for tea lovers.

" I created my plantation for the love of tea, to have a project that I control completely, out of passion for the land. I prefer to produce a small amount of very high quality teas than a lot of poor value teas. " Émilie Luro, wishes to produce high-end teas, a lover of blue-green teas, she dreams of one day producing her own Oolong tea. To do this, she is developing her knowledge, hoping to be able to travel to the regions specialized in this tea: Taiwan and China, finally, she seeks the help of tea sommelier Grégory Lehoux to perfect her knowledge of tea.

3. Émilie Luro collaborates with tea sommelier Grégory Lehoux to have her tea appraised and perfect her knowledge of tea growing and tasting.

"I need his support to develop my tea, to make it grow over the years and seasons, to adapt my production and processing methods. As a tea oenologist, he will be able to set me taste objectives in line with the terroir, and tell me frankly when the quality is not up to scratch."

• Developing a culture of tasting

Knowing how to assess a tea and identify its quality level is the role of the expert taster: they taste, compare, and select teas for a tea house or tea room. Grégory Lehoux is the founder of Maison un air de thé; his experience, travels, and ongoing sourcing allow him to best support tea professionals. During his meeting with Émilie Luro, he was able to demonstrate the different stages of tasting.

• Grégory Lehoux brings his expertise as a tea sommelier and sourcing

To recognize a quality tea, you must regularly taste very different teas and build up a sensory library. To progress, you must also learn to name the sensations you experience. Every day, during tea tastings in stores or during his many travels, Grégory Lehoux identifies good teas and distinguishes the characteristics of a tea with an unbalanced organoleptic profile.

• Tailor-made training to discover the Grands Crus of tea

La Maison un air de thé offers tea training to professionals: specific training and customized modules. As part of our collaboration with Émilie Luro, it's interesting to discuss the different criteria that allow us to recognize a quality tea. Indeed, a "good tea vintage" has a balanced and harmonious organoleptic profile. The concept of Grands Crus truly takes on its full meaning by adding certain additional criteria and specificities. Indeed, it will be necessary to take into account the extreme diligence in all stages of the plant's cultivation. The rarity of the harvested batches, the exceptional character of the fragrances and aromas developed by certain teas, and even sometimes external elements such as insects can play an important role.

Meeting a tea planter is a moment of sharing and exchange between enthusiasts! We thank Émilie Luro again for contacting us and for trusting Maison un air de thé! We look forward to sharing many cups with you!