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Moorgunn's: A Local Teaery
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 7/12/06)

My mother liked tea. When her travels took her to England, India, and Asia she would bring back the best teas she could find.

I have a friend who usually orders tea when she is eating out. She says, "I only like really good coffee, but nobody can mess up a cup of tea." I disagree. I think almost everybody messes up a cup of tea, usually because they don't start with good tea. It is not hard to make good tea—just add really hot water to good tea. There is not a salad dressing that will make a hot house tomato taste like it is garden fresh, and no particular water temperature, cream, sugar, or other additive can make ordinary tea taste like good tea.

This weekend I noticed a new brand of tea. The packaging was attractive. The label promised ethically grown "Pure Premium Ceylon tea." I purchased the tea. After I had my first cup of Moorgunn's Downeaster Drysdale English Breakfast, I knew the tea was good. When I examined the package, hoping to find reorder information, I realized the tea was packaged in Orford, New Hampshire, just a few miles from where I live.

Moorgunn's Teaery was started by Kevin Morgan. Kevin liked a Blueberry Lemon Tea that he purchased from LL Bean in Freeport, Maine. When he found his favorite blueberry tea out of stock, he and his sister decided to make their own. Soon Kevin was making tea for friends and family and being encouraged to sell his teas in local retail establishments. With the encouragement of others, Kevin started Moorgunn's Teaery, which he named to honor his Welch Scottish ancestors.

Moorgunn's Teaery is an exemplary New Hampshire business. Their teas are blended and packaged in a room in a farm house that Kevin owns in Orford, New Hampshire. He uses the best quality ingredients he can find and works with the Ethical Tea Partnership to assure the tea comes from suppliers who respect their workers and the environment (http://www.ethicalteapartnership.org/).

For those who wish to bag their own tea, Moorgunn's Teaery offers T-Sac tea filters that are made in Germany from unbleached chlorine-free paper. Moorgunn teas are packaged in a sturdy Tea Tub^TM. Their trademarked logo, "Tea how it should be" is appropriate because their tea is tea as tea should be. Because the demand for Moorgunn teas has grown rapidly, Kevin's younger brother has joined the business to help with marketing and distribution.

Moorgunn's Teaery offers premium Ceylon, a blend of Ceylon and Keeman teas, and an Earl Gray tea. Earl Gray is a black tea flavored with bergamot, an essential oil that is produced from the peal of bergamot oranges. Moorgunn sells a green tea which contains a quarter of the caffeine of black tea. Possibly because Kevin has a graduate degree in African studies, of the four herbal teas that Moorgunn's Teaery offers he is most enthusiastic about their Organic Red Berry, which is made from the Rooibos bush grown in the western Cape of South Africa. The Red Berry is reputed to have beneficial medicinal properties.

If you would like to learn more about the teas offered by Moorgunn's Teaery or order their tea online, visit http://www.moorgunnstea.com/.

Moorgunn teas can be purchased at several local establishments, including two of my favorites: Chapman's Store on Route 5 in Fairlee, Vermont, and Farm Way on Waits River Road in Bradford, Vermont.