The Canadian Millennia Tea project is looking for tea plantations all over the world, located near facilities for rapid cleaning and flash-freezing of freshly picked tea leaves. And when they finds such plantations, fresh tea leaves are collected, cleansed and frozen. Then they sell freshly frozen tea at $45 per 100 grams (compared to the English prices for fresh tea leaves — next to nothing).
Freshly frozen tea can be brewed in the traditional way — with boiling water. You can also blend them with water (and consume not just an infusion but tea leaves as a whole), make ice tea and a lot of other wonderful drinks. And food, by the way, also — fresh tea leaves are good fried in tempura.
The main consumer disadvantage of freshly frozen tea is its storage after purchase — as soon as you buy such tea you need to go home right away and put it into a freezerб refreezing won’t do it good. But this drawback is completely outweighed by the advantages. Firstly, it’s fun. Secondly, they say, it is quite decent in taste. Thirdly, freshly frozen tea can be used to make your own traditional tea at home, and freezing can replace twisting in tea leaves. And, finally, fourthly, this tea can be considered the most healthy and natural.
The Millennia Tea web-site is here, they also have a Facebook page and YouTube channel.