Mountain Stream Taiwanese Sheng
**We have acquired the 2019 spring pick of the old tree material for this year's Mountain Stream Taiwanese Sheng and it was pressed into cakes in late July. There are only seven left for sale!**
A rumor that turned into reality, this tea is about as one-of-a-kind as they come. It has one of those 'too crazy to be true but verified with pictures' stories that have become all-too-common on our sourcing adventures. This tea is made from fresh tea material picked from 100-200-year-old wild cultivar tea trees growing in the mountains of South-Western Taiwan and then processed mirroring the Pu'er tea processing style of Yunnan, China. The finished product is something that is new but familiar, and undeniably Taiwanese. The name Taiwanese Sheng fits it perfectly!
The taste profile is sweet, candied plums with a fresh feel similar to what you would get from a greenish high-mountain oolong. The leaves are heavy and dense but the tea liquor is light and soft. There is a touch of young sheng pu'er bitterness if pushed too hard, but with 10-15 second infusions the tea unfolds in soft, sweet waves. Not a pu'er or an oolong, but something unique and special. We are immensely excited to see how this tea ages!
Grown by a multi-generational tea-farmer family in Liugui, Taiwan it has all the 'hipster' checkmarks that we need to have it as a long-term tea on the site. Mark, the main force behind this tea, just welcomed his first son into the world just a couple months ago!
Elevation: 1300-1400m
Status: Wild Garden, Regenerative, Organic
Cultivar: South Western Taiwan Wild Cultivar
Season: Winter 2018
Method: Hand picked, processed on site, very small batch
Oxidization: Pu'er Processing Style
Region: Liugui, Taiwan
Recommend Brewing Style:
Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~100C water, 10-15 second flash steeps for first 3-4 steeps then adjust to taste. Lasts 10+ steeps.
Western Style: NOT RECOMMENDED FOR WESTERN STYLE BREWING.
