Organic Taiwanese Purple Bud Tuo Cha

$6.00

Size

10g 100g Cake

Quantity

Organic Taiwanese Purple Bud

Tuo Cha

**We were recently able to find the last of these beautiful Tuo Chas that we originally had on the site many years ago. This tea is one for those that enjoy a clean, smooth and 'happy' cha chi!

On a recent trip to a friend's garden we found something special. 100% purple bud, organic, Taiwanese-grown Tuo Cha produced by Buddhist Monks and Nuns on a tea garden just outside of Taipei. This Buddhist Organic Tea Garden is a place we have know for years but they have just recently offered up this style of tea for sale to the general public. Our many years of relationship with this garden has helped bring this tea to the international market at a reasonable price.

Produced in the traditional sheng puer style and pressed with material from spring 2018, the cultivar really is distinctive. Supposedly brought from China 20 years ago the origins of the variety are a little cloudy, but it is very rare in Taiwan.

This humble and forgiving tea tastes of a red oolong mixed with a late season sheng. Fresh, clean straw notes transform into sweet dark fruit with a bit of a kick. The smooth, sweet sugar-cane aftertaste then lingers for a long, long time.

Elevation: 300-400m

Status: Certified Organic

Cultivar: Chinese Purple Bud Varietal

Season: Spring 2018

Method: Hand and Machine picked, processed on site, small batch

Oxidization: Pu'er Processing Style

Region: Pinglin, New Taipei City

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: 3-5 per 100ml. 2-3 minutes steeps.

Grandpa Style: 3-5g per mug. Keep adding water as you drink to taste. Very suitable for this tea!

Wow!

Well rounded with a soft aroma and clean finish. Hard to classify, but very satisfying and much softer and (to my palate) far gentler and more subtle than pu erh. Short gung fu steeps gave me 13 iterations and counting.

Very interesting tea, unique

I, too, made this tea as soon as I got it in the mail. Gongfu style with quick flash steeps as recommended. The smell of tea liquor is fruity like strawberry. Wet leaf smell is straw-like after a few steeps. The taste is a soft apricot flavor with no astringency up front. Quite superb.

Smooth, no astringency!

I made this tea as soon as it came in the mail. The dry tea smells like freeze dried pears. Brewed Western style, it tastes like sweet straw and has almost no astringency!

Peace in a cup

This is a truly lovely tea. Warm, well-rounded with a soft, sweet finish. I love the story of where it comes from too. A new favorite for sure!

It is not easy to classify this tea if you do not know what it is.
Very tightly pressed, which can also be due to the Tuo Cha form. That gives you a lot of breakage in the Gaiwan. Nevertheless, the tea does not bitter and forgives also longer brewing times.

In the nose a bit earthy, but at the same time incredibly fruity - apricot?
The tea starts soft and mild, but the aftertaste remains long and sweet - I use 5g per 100ml for this session.
Something of red Oolong but also a light menthol note like an old sheng.

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Organic Taiwanese Purple Bud Tuo Cha

Organic Taiwanese Purple Bud

Tuo Cha

Customer Reviews