2016 Charcoal Roast #20 Red Oolong

Sometimes when sourcing teas you come across a tea that sounds so strange and wonderful that you have to try it. This was one of those teas. We had never come across a red oolong made with the very new #20 cultivar, nor had we tried a roasted tea made from it either. This cultivar, famous for its creamy sweetness, is almost always made into a lightly oxidized ball rolled oolong. In this tea we had both, and it has made a very special tea. Rich, fruity, dark and spicy this tea took us completely off guard! The extra few years of age has done wonders for this tea and we were happy to buy some to share.

This partner farm has two areas of tea, one is a wild garden and the source of our Meishan 2010 'Wild Left' Oolong and another is a conventional garden. That garden is surrounded by other conventional gardens which makes it very hard to get certified organic. This tea is from the conventional garden but this family uses agrochemicals as little as possible. 

Elevation: 1300m

Status:  Conventional 

Cultivar: TRES #20, Welcoming Fragrance

Oxidization: 85%, Charcoal Roast

Season: Spring 2016

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

Region: Alishan, Meishan District, Nantou County

Recommend Brewing Style:

Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, 100C water, 30, 45, 60 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 4-5 steeps.

Western Style: 3g per 100ml, 100c water for 2 minutes. Lasts 2-3 steeps