Cui Ming Premium Yunnan Green Tea * Spring 2018 from the Yunnan sourcing Yunnan “First Flush” Spring 2018 Green Tea Sampler.
This is an unusual green tea.
First it’s a bit odd that it isn’t formed. Second, it is ridiculously light, almost a White Tea, or the ghost of a green tea.
Oh, but we haven’t talked about that yet.
White tea production is the simplest, the tea is picked, withered slightly, and dried. That’s pretty much it.
Green tea is slightly more complicated.
First, in general, white tea contains a slightly larger leaf to bud ratio than most White teas.
Second, after withering, the green tea undergoes something which is usually called “Kill Green”.
“Kill Green” refers to quickly heating the tea to stop the enzymatic action from changing the green color. Usually this is done, at a more rustic level, in something that looks a bit like a large wok, or at a more industrial level, in something that looks like a cross between a clothes dryer and a cement mixer. Alternatively, sometimes the tea is steamed, though this is more common in Japan.
After the “Kill Green” step, green tea is usually, (and I say usually, because obviously this tea has not,) formed into a some sort of shape that will prevent it from breaking in transport. A spear shape, or a roll, or a pearl shape, etc. There are different styles in different regions.
The tea is then dried at a low temperature.
This tea looks basically like White Peony (Bai Mudan) which has undergone a kill green step.
According to the Yunnan Sourcing this tea is grown from a specific varietal and picked very early in the spring.
It is super light in flavor, in almost every way the complete opposite of the robust late harvest Teng Chong Hui Long Zhai I drank yesterday. There is an earthy vegetal nutty character and a lingering sweetness. A bit of astringency in the middle steeps reminds you it is green tea, and not a white tea. But it has quite a nice, and subtle aftertaste.
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