When I was in primary school, on Sundays, my mum would get her brother and sister’s families together for trips to monasteries in regional Yangon, Burma (Myanmar). After an hour drive the monks in their saffron robes in the beautiful golden temple grounds would welcome us with a bowl of tea leaf salad and some Marie biscuits. The salad didn’t last long with hungry children, it all finished within minutes.
The traditional tea leaf salad known locally as ‘laphet thoke’ is a freshly made salad consisting of tomato, shredded cabbage, corn & lettuce that is garnished with fermented tea leaves, garlic, chilli, a squeeze of lime and topped with crunchy nuts and sesame seeds. It is a very healthy, tasty and colourful salad. It is a local custom to offer Laphet thoke to visitors and it is a gesture of generosity, warmth and good health.
Living in Sydney for the past 15 years, I often feel a world away from these warm and vivid memories. My life has become faster paced, but I still can’t resist the fresh, tasty food I have grown up with. Just a spoonful of laphet thoke transports me back to these childhood memories.
On my Monday morning dash to get out the door, I’ve tried different ways to get a healthy lunch together that I can take into work. I’ve been tempted to use store bought dressing and sauces but found them to be way too salty, sugary and oily. They often overpower and drown my salads and wraps, nothing worse than a soggy lunch! I’ve tried keeping it simple with olive oil and lemon but it just doesn’t have the flavour to keep it interesting. Looking forward to your lunch is as important as keeping it healthy.
I started making my own laphet thoke to take into work and gave a few friends a taste. My friends found it delicious and had never tasted anything like it. Everyone wanted me to get them fermented tea leaves, but it wasn’t easy to do as they are only grown in a certain part of Burma.
Most tea leaves bought in Burma are preserved in oil and have flavouring agents such as MSG. I was determined to only source the best quality laphet that did justice to the centuries old process of picking young tea leaves and not adding flavouring agents or oil. The laphet I gave my friends had to be healthy, natural and maintain the antioxidants that give tea its superfood properties.
After I found high quality and fresh laphet I found that it wasn’t easy to create the flavours of the laphet thoke salad. It wasn’t only the laphet that made the taste great but also the combination of lime, garlic, sesame and chilli that really tied it all together. With the hope of trying to make it super easy for my friends, the idea of making a bottled dressing came to life. After over 100 different tries, and annoying my husband with my midnight blending after work, I finally came up with a combination that I felt closely matched the taste I loved with a consistency that made it easy to use.
xo Mimi
A lip-smacking blend of earthy green tea, tangy lime, creamy sesame and a hint of garlic and chilli. A perfect blend of natural flavours unique to Burma, eaten for centuries.
We have bottled the delicious flavours of laphet thoke and sourced fresh, natural fermented tea leaves from the temperate highlands of Burma for their unique flavour.
Laphet thoke is eaten in Burma for good health. Green tea is high in antioxidants and is a natural source of caffeine, now you can enjoy it in your salad too.
10c from every bottle of our Tea sauce or Sunkissed Crunch will go towards supporting WIRES. The Black Summer fires destroyed millions of hectares of land, much of which was threatened species habitat, at the same time many regions of Australia had been devastated by one of the worst droughts on record. These emergency events have taken a tragic toll on native species with hundreds of species at risk of extinction.
Unprecedented disasters of this scale require unprecedented collaboration to help wildlife recover. To deliver the best possible outcomes for impacted wildlife, WIRES and Landcare have joined forces in a new program funded by WIRES to implement immediate response, recovery and resilience building projects for wildlife in bushfire and drought impacted communities across Australia.
You can learn more about them here: https://www.wildforlife.org.au/
Mimi’s Laphet Tea Sauce is a delicious blend of earthy green tea, tangy lime, creamy sesame and a hint of garlic and chilli. It’s a tasty and healthy addition to your go to salad, wrap or use it as a sauce for dipping or on a burger.
Mimi’s Sunkissed crunch is a golden, crispy mix of beans and nuts that are a crunchy and tasty addition to any dish you want to bring to life. From a salad, to wraps, pizza, noodles or pasta, anything you want to give an added crunch to! Simply take a couple of spoonful’s and sprinkle for an added texture and protein kick.
The combination of flavour and crunch is inspired by the traditional Burmese salad known as Laphet Thoke where these elements are combined with cucumber, tomato, corn, lettuce and lime to create a healthy and yummy salad.
We typically process your order in 1-2 days and shipping time Australia wide is 5-7 days. If you make any purchases after 2PM on Friday, it will be shipped out on Monday morning. Once your order is processed, we’ll send you a confirmation email with a tracking number.
Our Tea Sauce is in a glass bottle and our Sunkissed Crunch in a glass jar. We wrap each item in corrugated paper/cardboard. When you buy the Tea Sauce or the Sunkissed crunch they will be placed inside a paper padded bag for extra protection during shipping. When you buy any of our ‘packs’ such as the ‘Easy Teasy pack’ then we will place the items in a cardboard box which is also great way to send as a gift. We don’t use any plastic in our packaging and all the materials can be recycled.
Our products are bottled and packaged in Australia. The fermented tea leaves are sourced from Burma whilst the other ingredients we use are sourced locally in Australia. Our Sunkissed crunch is sourced from Burma and packaged locally in Australia.
The traditional tea leaf salad known locally in Burma as ‘laphet thoke’ is a freshly made salad consisting of tomato, shredded cabbage, corn & lettuce that is garnished with pickled tea leaves, garlic, chilli, a squeeze of lime and topped with crunchy nuts and sesame seeds. It is a very healthy, tasty and colourful salad. It is a local custom to offer Laphet thoke to visitors and it is a gesture of generosity, warmth and good health.
No, it doesn’t taste bitter at all. When the green tea leaves are fermented, the bitterness reduces and is replaced with a very pleasant earthy taste.
Laphet is made from picking the young leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant (Tea plant). After picking, the tea leaves are put through a steaming process. The tea leaves are then packed into clay pots and pressed by heavy weights. The Tea leaves are then well fermented by naturally forming microbes, the fermentation process can take up to six months. The fermentation process is an art refined in Burma for centuries that creates a complex and delicious earthy taste. The fermented tea leaves are widely eaten in Burma in the ‘laphet thoke’ tea leaf salad and you won’t find a home that doesn’t have it to share with family and friends. We have sourced our fermented tea from this region to ensure high quality and an authentic flavour.
Our Tea Sauce has a hint of chilli. It isn’t spicy but rather adds a nice warmth to your food. It is always good to try a small amount first and add more if needed.
Yes, both our Tea Sauce and Sunkissed Crunch are plant based and gluten free.
Mimi’s Laphet Tea Sauce contains soy and sesame seeds (please refer to the nutrition and ingredient label on the product page).
Mimi’s Laphet Sunkissed crunch contains peanuts and sesame seeds (please refer to the nutrition and ingredient label on the product page).
It can last 3 weeks in the fridge when opened. The concentrated taste means typically one spoonful is all you’ll need and that a bottle could last you for up to 12 salads.
We offer a 30-day risk-free trial. If for some reason you are not happy with the product you receive you may contact us to receive a refund on the price paid for the products on our online store. Please see our 30-day risk-free trial policy for the T&Cs.