Sanxia Aged Green Tea Cake
We stumbled upon this tea on a recent sourcing trip to visit our friends in Sanxia. The story of these cakes is about the lasting power of good, clean, masterfully crafted tea. 2016 was a great year for tea making and our partners were able to produce a lot of green tea, but the market for organic green tea in Taiwan was even smaller then than it is now. There were few buyers for the tea that season and the tea was placed into storage.
It stayed there for four years, loosing all marketability. Who wants to buy a 2-4 year old 'AGED' green tea? This spring the family decided to try a last ditch experiment to save the tea (and their investment) and pressed it into cakes.
This fascinating tea is the result!
The taste profile is something between a young sheng and fresh green tea, light, fruity and slightly floral with a subtle vegetal rootedness. There is no bitterness but a light astringency if pushed too hard. It is a very easy and fun tea to drink!
The green teas from this garden are now sold out as soon as they are made so the chances of another version of this tea anytime soon is very small. While it lasts, it is a truly unique study of the lasting power of masterfully crafted tea.
Hand plucked without blades and produced by multi-generations of the same family under the watchful eye of a 4th-generation tea farmer in his 80s, we are honored to support this family. Produced at a partner farm only 20 minutes from downtown Taipei in one of the oldest tea growing areas of Taiwan, this tea is made in the traditional way. This style of tea production is extremely rare and we are happy to support a family still making tea in this old, delicate style.
**This tea was not pressed 'for us' so is only available in 300g cakes. We will do our best to carefully break them into thirds for those who don't want a full 300g cake.
Elevation: 400m
Status: Organic Certified
Cultivar: Qingxin Gan Zhong (Rare Heritage Variety)
Season: Spring-Fall 2016
Method: Hand picked, processed on site, very small batch
Oxidization: 1-2%
Region: Sanxia, New Taipei City
Recommend Brewing Style:
Gong Fu Style: 5-7g per 100ml, ~85-95C(195-205f) water, 30, 45, 60 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 3-4 steeps.
Western Style: ~5g per mug, ~85-95C(195-205f) water, add water for heat, or if it gets too strong, for taste.
**This is a new style of tea to us so experiment to find your perfect taste points. Cooler/shorter steeps for lighter brews and longer/hotter steeps for stronger.
