MIRTINGA
Black Tea · Sylhet, Bangladesh
For over 170 years, Bangladesh has grown world-class tea in the hills of Sylhet — most of it shipped away before anyone here could taste what it really was. Mirtinga is one estate, one harvest, nothing blended away. The finest cup this country makes, finally kept for the people who call it home.
Why Mirtinga
Most tea is chosen once, at the price. Ours is chosen three times: by the place, by the season, and by the leaf.
A little more than ordinary tea.
Far less than you would think.
01 · The estate
Much of the tea on the shelf is a blend of many gardens. Mirtinga comes from one: the Mirtinga Tea Estate in Kamalganj, near Sreemangal, Bangladesh's tea capital. Every cup traces back to a single garden.
02 · The season
After the winter rest, the bushes wake with their most tender growth. That first plucking of the year is the one we pack.
03 · The leaf
প্রথম পাতা
Every leaf on a tea stem has a name, and the higher it grows, the finer the cup. Mirtinga is made from the very top of the shoot: the bud and its youngest leaves, the ones tea tasters call Orange Pekoe and Pekoe. It is what people here simply call first leaf.
04 · The cup
About a hundred cups in every pouch, roughly ৳3 each. Less than a glass at the corner stall, and made with a lot more care.
The land
Fifty kilometres from Darjeeling, the forested teelas above the Dhalai river sit on the same tea belt that shaped the world's most celebrated leaf — a secret Bangladesh forgot to tell itself.
The garden
Mirtinga is a long-established estate under the Deundi Tea Company — its numbered hillside sections shaded by acacia, growing in conditions the world's finest tea regions are known for.
The hands
Oraon, Munda, Santal and other communities have shaped Sylhet's gardens for generations — their hands decide which leaf is ready, a judgement no machine has matched. Each 20 May they remember Mulluk Cholo, the 1921 march for dignity and home.
The festival
At Karam, a branch is planted at the centre and the garden dances Jhumur — shoulder to shoulder, to the madal's beat. The tea carries the spirit of the people who tend it.
The market
For over a century, Mirtinga Bazar has gathered on Thursday evenings under kerosene lamps — jilapi, khoi, betel leaf and conversations that outlast the oil. This is the Bangladesh most of Dhaka has never seen.
The cup
We named our tea for this place because the world should know it. First-flush leaves, kept whole, kept honest — the cup Bangladesh deserves to call its own.
The Gardens
Fifty kilometres from Darjeeling, in the same misty belt, Bangladesh has been growing tea since the 1850s.
The rolling teelas of Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sylhet hold some of the oldest gardens in the subcontinent. But while Darjeeling became a global name, these hills stayed quiet — their finest leaves exported before Bangladesh could taste them. Until now.
The Hands
The best tea is still decided by a human eye and a careful hand.
Pluckers in Sylhet's gardens carry baskets strapped across the forehead and decades of inherited skill. They know exactly which shoot is ready — the tender first flush that the world's premium markets compete for. Mirtinga keeps that harvest here.
The Cha
Bangladesh doesn't just drink tea. It runs on it.
A glass cup, a wooden bench, a conversation that runs long past the second round. We made Mirtinga for that ritual — with leaves good enough to make you notice what's in your cup for the first time.
The Craft
First flush. Single estate. Nothing blended away.
Each batch is finished in small lots and sealed at origin, so the leaf reaches your kettle the way it left the garden — bright, malty, deep in the cup. This is what Bangladeshi tea tastes like when nobody dilutes it.
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The Tea
Loose leaf · 200 g pouch
৳300
Single-estate, first-flush Sylhet black tea — the grade Bangladesh usually exports and rarely gets to taste. Bright amber liquor, gentle maltiness and a clean, honeyed finish. For your everyday lal cha or a rich, slow dudh cha.
Cash on delivery across Bangladesh
Bright amber liquor. Malty body with a soft honey sweetness and a brisk, clean finish. Holds beautifully with milk.
1 teaspoon (2 g) per 200 ml of freshly boiled water at 95°C. Steep 3–4 minutes. Add lemon, ginger or milk as you like.
Grown and hand-plucked in the tea gardens of Sylhet division, Bangladesh. Named for the Mirtinga tea estate of Kamalganj, Moulvibazar. Packed in Bangladesh.
Inside Dhaka ৳70, 1–2 days · outside Dhaka ৳130, 2–4 days. Cash on delivery. Unopened pouches can be returned within 7 days — full policy.
The Ritual
bright, clear, with lemon
rich, creamy, poured from a height