2026 Assam Harvest Report

The 2026 tea harvest ran a month late, start to finish. A dry winter followed by a deluge of rain created a tricky environment for the tea bushes of Northern India. In the spring, the Darjeeling teas we wait all winter for were delayed, and the Assams followed suit in the heat of summer. Second Flush Assam, the summer harvest that follows spring's first picking, is our whole reason for being this time of year. It's the backbone of rich blends like British Brunch and Portland Breakfast, and we build our entire buying calendar around it. Normally we'd see it running May through July. This year it sauntered in closer to June, and as I write this on August 25, we're still finding lovely lots crossing the cupping table, where we taste every tea before we buy it. That's not just late. That's fashionably, almost defiantly late. We're fortunate to have partnerships spanning the length of the Brahmaputra River. The heavy majority of our teas come from the South Bank, with a few from the North Bank, and that mix gives our portfolio diversity in both flavor and timing. It extends our buying season and lets us be more selective about the lots we bring home. A lot is a single batch of tea from a single garden, made over a matter of days, with a character all its own. Buying tea lot by lot is one of the core principles behind Smith Teamaker and one of the things that sets us apart. Many tea blenders buy blended standards instead, large pre-mixed batches built to taste identical year after year, because it makes formulation easier. We prefer the flexibility and creativity that single lots afford us, which makes finding the right teas at the right time paramount to our success. If this season had a highlight reel, it would be mid-July's Orthodox teas. Orthodox means made the traditional way, whole leaves rolled slowly rather than shredded by machine, and it shows in the cup. Rich, malty, thick in the mouth and quietly sweet, the kind of tea that makes you sit up a little straighter at the cupping table. These are the leaves that will carry British Brunch into its best year yet. As the season wraps up and we put our cupping sets away, we reflect on how long and arduous it was. Each day our cupping team tasted through between 50 and 200 samples, looking for the perfect fits for our catalog. It's a highly caffeinated job, and the four of us lucky enough to sit at the cupping table take it seriously. We know the teas we choose in the summer heat will shape our blends for the next year, and the magnitude of that is never lost on us. Neither is the special nature of the work. It's an honor to work with our partners in India, selecting the finest teas and translating the hard work of growers, farmers, manufacturers, graders and sellers into your favorite morning cup of tea. –Sara, Tea & Innovation

2026 Assam Harvest Report

2026 Assam Harvest Report

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