Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: large, somewhat dark with lots of downy buds
Ingredients: white tea
Steep time: 2 minutes
Water Temperature: 175 degrees
Preparation Method: glass teapot
Liquor: very pale gold
I often drink so many different teas each year that it is hard to keep them straight. Every once in a while I’ll find a tea that really sticks in my mind. This tea is definitely one of them. I first tasted it at World Tea East in 2012. In the midst a busy show floor and after tasting way too much tea, this one still managed to blow me away. Curiosity got the better of me on my last order and I purchased the Ancient Moonlight White Bud Bar instead. This time around I made sure to treat myself to a bag. The taste was just as delicious as I remembered. It had an intoxicating floral aroma. This tea drinker was caught with her nose in the teapot several times. There were notes of honey and melon with a sweet, lingering aftertaste. The floral aspect was very interesting. It reminded me of the way a field of clover in bloom smells. Although it was rather delicate, the flavor profile was very complex. I was also able to get more infusions than I was able to keep track of. I love the bounty of information that Wild Tea Qi provides. Included below is their snippet about the farmer who produced this tea. The owner of Wild Tea Qi, +Jay T. Hunter, wrote a book recently and I’m really hope that he shares some insight into this wonderful tea. I’ll be positing a review of it soon.
You can find out more about this tea here.
Tea Master Chen Mei Chen Mei is of the Dai tribe in Yunnan Province and has been honing her skills in picking and producing ancient tea tree teas since a young age. During the Cultural Revolution, the government had ordered all the ancient tea trees in Yunnan be cut so to cut the relationship to the ancient culture. Her grandfather who was managing the ancient tea garden at the time, risked his life by forbidding anyone in the village from cutting these beautiful ancient trees. He told them he would die fighting if he had to in order to protect these sacred trees. Now her grandfather’s ancient tea tree plantation is regarded as having the most unique tea tree forest on the mountain as it was completely in tact throughout the Cultural Revolution. Source: Wild Tea Qi |