David Duckler

Just had this tea this morning. Drinking it reminds me of the farmer friend who supplies it. We used to drink Tieguanyin together for hours a day while I was living in China. I would try a new picking and exclaim how good it was, and she would just shrug and wash her mouth out with water. When I called her to ask if she had anything that I could bring in, she said that this crop was “actually pretty good.” That was the first positive review i got from her and I purchased the entire picking. I sure am glad that I did. This spring 2011 tea is so unique because it bridges the floral lingering candy flavor of typical high-end spring Tieguanyin and combines it with the robust creamy deep and sweet grass flavor of autumn Tieguanyin. It is truly commanding, and forces you to keep drinking. I did six steepings and then logged on to review it and my internet crashed. I took it as a sign that I was supposed to keep drinking through another 15 steepings. Happy that I did. Five hours later I still have the floral creamy flavor lingering in mouth.

As an aside, the woman that grows this tea is working to start a tea therapy program for primary school students, much like art or music therapy to help children deal with stress and learn patience and social skills through tea ceremony. Hopefully with more and more Americans falling in love with her tea, she will able to realize that dream.

No notes yet.

First: I have not tried hundreds of Gyokuros, but from a general perspective on tea, this is an excellent one. The flavor is sweet, vegetal, like fresh cut alfalfa, but also unexpectedly with strong notes of hazelnut, and a soothing creaminess that balances out the edge that some Japanese green teas have.

Yet the most interesting part of this tea was in the mouthfeel and the aftertaste. There is an interesting numbing sensation to drinking this tea slowly. As you keep drinking, the sensation builds, and the result is the perception of a more honey-like sweetness. The aftertaste moves towards roasted hazelnut.

About brewing. I tried brewing exactly as directed, and like other people say, it makes a really strong tea. I like the experience, but I would not drink this more than once every few weeks at that intensity. I tried brewing it up like they do in Northern China, where green tea is poured back and forth between two glass pitchers for no more than 10 seconds, but with hotter water, and I got good results. It also steeps up perfectly nicely in a large pot for 1-2 minutes with 160 degree water.

Thank you Den’s for showing me what Japanese tea has to offer.

When this shipment came in and I broke into the first tong, it was like christmas. The aroma brings me back to Northern California and the redwood forests. This tea is very clean, but also gaining the musty qualities of something older. It was pressed in commemoration of the tea trade between China and the old Tubo empire (now Tibet). It is stamped with the seals of every township along the tea-horse trail. I may have to set aside a tong for myself to age. Thank you Yongming workshop!

I was extremely excited to find this one! This enormous 1kg ball of tea comes from a farmer who has grown tired of the big factories dominating the Banzhang tea market. Her family used to sell their hand picked wild leaves to Dayi, and said that Dayi would do 1000% or more mark up and cut the farmers out of the profits. This family has been struggling since branching off on their own because their tea does not have the certification that big factories like Dayi can afford. I hope to introduce this tea to America and help start a movement on Banzhang mountain to return to quality and small farming.

This is an unknown treasure! I spent three years living in the shadow of Laoshan (Mt. Lao) where this tea is produced. The yearly picking is tiny in comparison to export-driven tea growing areas. Most people in China have not heard of this tea. I am pretty suprised to even see an entry here. If you managed to get your hands on some Laoshan and it was not mind-blowing, please don’t judge all Laoshan tea from that one. As with any area, there is a huge range of quality. The farmers I had a chance to work with still hand process each batch. The best Laoshan tea can hold its own against anything, from Dragonwell to Gyokuro. The fields are fertilized with soybeans to give the tea a more rich and creamy taste. Very interesting tea. I am importing the spring 2011 batch from some farmer friends to introduce it to America properly.