Description
Tasting Notes
Origin

Flavor: Jasmine flower aroma. Balanced, mildly sweet, delicate floral character. Clean, refreshing finish.

Garden: This source is the most innovative and progressive tea producer we know. A husband and wife team cooperate with neighboring farmers to produce an impressive array of organically cultivated tea in the historical tea growing region of Songbolin in Nantou County. From wild and heirloom tea strains to modern hybrid cultivars of tea, they have researched and developed eclectic processing methods to make some unique styles of tea. This is the first source from whom we've been inspired to offer flower tea blends. Their ideology of natural farming methods combined with their comprehensive knowledge of tea production inspires us to represent their extraordinary teas.

Harvest: Machine harvested, medium batch, summer 2020, Songboling, Taiwan.

Elevation: 400m

Brewing: 9g in 300ml 95°C water, steep for 3 minutes. Re-steep. Adjust to taste.
This batch of tea was made from a combination of naturally grown Tsui Yu and Four Seasons Spring tea leaves. These tea types are most commonly produced as a "green Oolong" where the leaves are lightly oxidized and left unroasted. The floral and herbal characters of these teas have been mellowed by substantial oxidation but maintain their complex aroma and smooth, palatable, refreshing character as a more traditionally made Oolong.

These leaves were infused with hand-picked Jasmine flowers in a post production process. The distinct yet compatible qualities of a flower essence combined with a rich, well oxidized Oolong character offer a very interesting and satisfying brew. We've discovered that this tea works equally well as a cold brew or a hot brew. The beauty of this batch of tea is that you can sit down and brew it Gongfu style and marvel at the intricacies of a traditionally made Oolong combined with a flower essence to produce a heady, complex brew. Or you can just toss some of these leaves and flowers in your water bottle and let it sit for a couple hours at room temperature or in the fridge overnight, and enjoy it all day.
Mr. and Mrs. Xie manage their cooperative of certified organic tea farms in a way that combines tradition with an eclectic knowledge of tea production. They have an integrated understanding of what works in terms of tea cultivation and processing as well as consumer market trends. After visiting them numerous times in their home and gradually learning of their overall production that was warranted by our relentless questions, we discovered this tea type which is unique in our knowledge of tea making.
This batch of tea is a combination of Four Seasons Spring and Tsui Yu tea leaves that were mixed lightly roasted, and then blended with Jasmine flowers in a post-production infusion process. We've tried several tea blends from this source, and despite the fact that we have been tea purists up to now, we've finally been convinced that tea blends are well worth sharing when they are made with the right ingredients and prepared with world-class skill and knowledge of tea making. It's the balance of a significantly oxidized, traditionally made Oolong with a distinct flower essence that is consistently satisfying, either hot or cold, that has compelled us to put this tea on our shelf!

Tea Blends