Herbal · Valensole, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France
Lavande fine de Valensole
Caffeine-free
Two lavenders grow on the plateau. This is the one meant for a cup: a pale gold infusion, floral and soft.
Recipe
- Temperature
- 95 °C · 203 °F
- Plants
- 1.5 g
- Water
- 250 ml
- First steep
- 7:00
- Each next steep
- +1:00
- Steeps
- 2
Suggested starting point.
Time this brew with Pekoe
Aroma notes
lavender blossom · honey · warm stone
Tasting notes
floral · clean · gently sweet
Harvest
July
Making
Planting 
Harvesting 
Drying 
Sorting
Origin
Valensole · France
The plateau is dry and wide open, and its bloom is brief: it opens in the middle of June, peaks before the middle of July, and by August most of the rows are already cut.
Lore
The wide purple fields everyone photographs are mostly lavandin, a hybrid grown for perfume. It tastes of camphor and has no place in a teapot. Fine lavender grows higher up, gives fewer flowers and smells softer, and it is the one you steep. The Haute-Provence appellation protects the essential oil, not the tisane.
