Red Honey Multivar Muzha

In early February 2025 we headed up to Muzha, above Taipei City, and found this unique and hard to name tea. December 2024 had a great stretch of weather near the end of the month and as Muzha is only 500m above sea level there was enough new growth for a small pick. This organic garden has a mix of cultivars(Tieguanyin, Jinxuan, Qinxin and Rou Gui) but none of the cultivar 'areas' or patches had enough for a single picking so all the tea was mixed together and made into one batch.

It was processed as a normal Muzha Tieguanyin style of tea with higher oxidization, but wasn't roasted as usual when it was discovered that there were enough bug bites to bring up some honey fragrance flavors! What was created was a fun and unique mix of the typical flavors of Muzha, Red Oolong, Honey Fragrance Black, and Hong Shui Oolong that has a slightly different taste each time you brew it due to the large amount of different cultivars used in the making of it.

If there is more Jinxuan in your random handful of leaves, the taste is thicker and more fruity, more Tieguanyin and the typical sweet sour fruit notes of the Muzha area are noticeable, the Qinxin brings out red cherries and the Rougui spicy cinnamon, all overlayed by the sweet honey fragrance given by the Green Leaf Hopper bites. We have tested it many times and each brew is different!

(Thanks to the Discord community for naming this one. We wonder if Multivar will become common in tea descriptions!)

Elevation: 300m

Status: Certified Organic

Cultivar: Tieguanyin, Jinxuan, Qinxin, Rougui

Season: December 2024

Method: Hand picked, processed on site, very small batch

Oxidation: 70%

Region: Muzha, New Taipei City

Recommend Brewing Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~100C water, 30, 40, 50 seconds then add 10-30 seconds to steeps to taste. Lasts 5-6 steeps.

Western Style Brewing:  Western Style: 3g per 100ml, ~100c water for 1 minute. Lasts 2-3 steeps