Sun Moon Wild Cultivar Black

Made from the father of the famous Ruby 18 cultivar, this Indigenous Taiwanese Tea Cultivar black tea is the first black made from this cultivar we have had on the site. Seed-grown and found in a garden where no two plants look exactly alike, the Camellia Formosensis material that mades up this tea is very unique.

As different as the tea plants themselves, the tasting notes of this tea depend a lot on how you brew it! With lower temperatures and shorter steep times breezy fresh leaf-litter and sweet red fruits notes linger on the palette. With a stronger, hotter and longer steep comes the taste of, well, fresh mushrooms! Within all the steeps is the classic taste of the Camellia Formosensis cultivar in the background, the fresh, clean forest floor. There is even a hint of the Ruby 18 menthol/mint lingering in the background for those who pay attention...

*This tea is a little more expensive than the other teas from this garden as the uneven nature of the plants make it harder to process and harvest.

Elevation: 400m

Area: Yuchi, Nantou, Sun Moon Lake Area

Status: Certified Organic 

Cultivar: Camellia Formosensis

Oxidization: 100%

Season: Winter, 2023

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

Recommend Brewing Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~95C water(205f), 30, 30, 45 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 4-6 steeps.

For stronger brews they can be brewed for up to a minute at a time but be careful not to make them too strong!

***Not recommended for western style brewing***

**On a recent sourcing trip to the area that Ruby 18 was first developed, the Sun Moon Lake Area, we stumbled across an organic farm that was growing the father, and mother of Ruby 18 side by side with it. We were offered the chance to try them together and it was so useful and fun that we decided to offer the same experience to everyone. You can try them all together here.