Essence of Tea - Čaje - 2013

This tea is a blend of a few single tree teas from Bangwei and Bulang. These trees stand out from their neighbours as some of the biggest and oldest trees in their gardens. This is a very special tea. It is composed of a large proportion of buds, from the first flush of Spring. The taste is very pure, thick and with plenty of strength. There is a hint of taste from the wok, perhaps it wasn't cleaned properly between batches during hand-processing, but this should settle over the...

This tea is collected from ancient, wild trees on Wuliang mountain. These are truely wild trees, that haven't been planted by humans and average around 800-1000 years old. The leaves naturally have honey like characteristics in the taste and aroma, which lends them very well to being made into hongcha (Red/Black tea). I find it difficult to get excited by many hongcha - the oxidisation often seems to mute many of the characteristics of teas that I find most enjoyable. This one...