Terraced tea rows on a volcanic slope in São Miguel, Atlantic mist drifting between them

Single origin · São Miguel, Azores

São Miguel is the only island in Europe where tea grows.

I bring four teas from São Miguel to Dubai. Picked by hand, never sprayed, one harvest at a time.

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1800s

Tea has grown on São Miguel since the nineteenth century

Zero

Sprays — the pests do not survive on this island

Apr–Oct

The hand-picking season, and nothing outside it

From the row to the cup

How the tea gets from a misty Atlantic slope to your kitchen in Dubai.

The island

Nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic, 1,500 km from Lisbon. São Miguel is the largest, and the only one with tea.

A volcanic Atlantic coastline, dark cliffs under dense green, silver ocean

The slope

North-facing terraces on volcanic soil. Cloud sits on the rows until about eleven most mornings.

Parallel rows of low tea bushes following the contour of a volcanic slope

Nothing sprayed

Too far out, too humid year-round: the pests that attack tea elsewhere never established here. There is nothing to spray for.

Young tea leaves with dew, blue hydrangeas out of focus behind

Picked by hand

April to October, two leaves and a bud. Nothing is taken in the wet half of the year.

A worn woven basket of freshly picked young tea leaves on volcanic soil

The crossing

Sealed at origin, flown in small runs. We hold one season, then we sell out.

Matte deep green tea tins lined up on a black basalt surface

Your kitchen

Which is where Faty would tell you to stop reading and put the water on.

A quiet kitchen corner: a plain ceramic cup beside an open tin

The tin

The seal is pressed into the metal, not printed on it.

I asked for a seal you can feel under your thumb. The metal is matte rather than glossy, and the gold band is only thin enough to catch late afternoon light.

Weight

100 g, loose leaf

Metal

Matte tin, deep green

Band

Pressed gold foil

Seal

Airtight lid, fully opaque

Tea loses its smell to light and air long before it loses it to time, which is why the tin is opaque and airtight.

A matte deep green tin, open, its lid resting against it

Start here

Start with a box, not a tin.

One tea tells you one thing. Two or four tell you what the island does — and cost less than buying them apart.

Everything

Most chosen

The Island Four

Two tins, two pouches — the full harvest

Everything we bottled this season: both tins and both loose-leaf pouches. This is the one I keep at home.

AED 430AED 490Save AED 60

The Discovery Box

Four teas, 25 g each — the whole island in one box

AED 120

Two Tins

One black, one green — Orange Pekoe and Encosta de Bruma

AED 305AED 330

The Faty Box

Two tins in a rigid box, with a written card

AED 355AED 380

Two tins and a kraft pouch part-wrapped in cream tissue

Subscription

The season is short. A subscription holds your share of it.

Choose a plan, choose your teas, choose monthly or every two months. Pause, skip, swap or cancel in one click from your account — no email, no phone call, no retention offer.

First order: free delivery and a sample of a second tea

Next delivery date and contents always visible

Save up to AED 45 on every delivery

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The story

"Faty" is the name she goes by.

She is from the island. I visit almost every year, and I live in Dubai now. I used to come back with two tins in my luggage; people would ask where they could buy it, and I had no answer.

This brand is the answer. It is not a marketing idea — it is a way for something of hers to exist where I am.

The island, and her