Nantou Spring Tips - Taiwan Green Tea - Spring 2012 - 100g

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Ships in farm-sealed 100g foil pouch

Harvest: Spring, 2012
Growing Area: Jenai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan
Elevation: +/-4,000 ft (1,200 M)
Varietal: Jin Xuan

Overview:
This Nantou Spring Tips is a Spring Harvest 2012 green tea that comes from a 4,000 ft elevation (1,200 M) tea garden in the Aowanda National Forest area of Jenai Township in Nantou County, Central Taiwan. This green tea is made from a tea cultivar known as Jin Xuan, which is usually processed into a mildly fragrant oolong tea.

The Jin Xuan plants were planted in the mid-1980's and have grown into very healthy & robust specimens. They have been grown using strictly natural agricultural methods. The careful, natural cultivation methods employed have enabled these plants to grow to very healthy and hearty plants which, in turn, produce tea with excellent body and a more robust character than their younger counterparts.

Appearance, Flavor & Aroma:
This Jin Xuan green tea was hand picked and processed in mid April, 2012. The tea was plucked primarily using a two leaves to one bud standard, and, although there was some inevitable breakage during production, packaging and shipping, it has been handled carefully to avoid too much damage to the finished product.

Wen infused, the flavor of this tea is light, fresh, sweet and a bit floral, and there is a slightly creamy or milky element in the flavor, which comes from the Jin Xuan source materials.

Steeping Guidelines:
To steep this tea, my preference leans toward steeping it gong fu style in your favorite fancy gaiwan. For Gong-Fu style, I use about 7-8 grams of leaf in a 150 ml gaiwan, water at about 165-170F, and a series of short steepings starting out with about 20 seconds for the first steeping and gradually increasing the steeping time over the infusions. Of course, please experiment with higher/lower temperatures and/or adjust your steeping times if you find an infusion at 170F to be too light for your taste.

To use a more "western" approach to steeping this tea, I like using about 1 gram of leaf for every ounce of water in my teapot, water at about 175 F, and a 2 minute first steeping. For a second steeping, keep the water at about 175 or a little higher and steep for 30 seconds. For the third & subsequent steepings, raise the water temp a little for each steep and add some time to each steep. I usually get 3-4 good steepings out of this tea when infused in this manner.

For general steeping guidelines for the different categories of Chinese tea and a short downloadable "how to" video on Gong Fu style tea preparation, please visit our Chinese Tea Steeping Guide page.