Ever since seeing the excellent documentary “All In This Tea,” I’ve wanted to try this one and I finally got the chance when a local Chinese friend of mine brought some in to my shoppe for blending. During the aforementioned documentary film, renown tea master Gaetano Kazuo Maida does a public tasting of this specfic tea and describes the experience as “vegetal without being flowery, earthy, seaweed.” Well, he’s got a much more refined palate than I do but I get what he was saying. It’s definitely very, very vegetal and has a slight, natural sweetness to it that is refreshing. I’ve never tasted a tea so clean before. I got three lovely infusions out of the amount that was given and we’re getting together this weekend for more tastings.
Drum Mountain Clouds & Mist (Gua Shan Yun Wu)
The taste of this tea is reminiscent of nectar with a rich finish and a lingering sweet aftertaste. Silk Road Teas was the first U.S. tea company to offer this tea. In China, it is called Mei Lan Chun. The plant varietal, known as Mei Zhan, is slow-growing and produces a small harvest. It is easy to brew and does not become bitter with over steeping. The tea is at its best with water temperature well below boiling at 185 – 195 degrees and the leaves will offer multiple infusions.
