|
|
Green Teas are late, but we have made them better
|
This year, not sure if it has to do with climate change, the weird weather, or the Lunar Calendar of double Spring year that happens only once every 19 years, or a combination of all of the above, tea comes in a lot later than usual.
|
The green teas are here nevertheless. And we have made it better. I shall write about them as we gradually release these new harvests.
|
|
The first one is our best selling green tea, Longjing.
|
|
This April, because of the delay in harvest, I had extra time to try to reconnect with people and had the luck to find one of the tea masters who used to supply to my previous luxurious tea brand 20 years ago. He is now even better than before.
|
Presenting Longjing Traditional Supreme. I have to re-create this top level selection because it is a very faithful representation of the Longjing that I know, and a fundamental rejuvenation of our Longjing line.
|
This is the best ever Longjing we have so far. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Longjing is roasted, not fried
Many people mistakenly call the process “frying” because of the use of the wok and shuffling of the leaves. What is intended onto the leaves during the process is, however, drying, creating a roasted flavour as well as compressing into a flat shape. It is a complex manoeuvre that only a few master, and more demanding than the old way coffee beans were roasted. Machines have been invented to imitated the manual process for lowering cost and maximising output, but the taste of a masterfully hand-roasted product is achieved only through the traditional way.
|
While taste cannot be transmitted through the internet to you, we have tried to share the look of this tea by showing its classic characteristics in the product shot —
|
- Please notice how uniformly flat the dry leaves are in the centre portion of the dish. The roasting master has to press the leaves against the heated wok to create this flatness.
- The singled out leaf bud on the top left, besides being very flat, is also partially browned due to the heat. This just enough brownness creates an optimum “roasted” flavour typical of a well made Longjing.
- Please notice also the darkened endings on the leaf stalks while the leaves are mostly green. There has to be ample withering before roasting and resting in between, yet the whole process has to be done within a few hours after plucking. Oxidation takes place once withering takes place and the breaking point of the leaves, at the leaf stalk, begins first. A limited area of dark colour in that position is a sign of the potent and rich contents in the leaves. The very short time span allowed for this withering limits the black spot only at the stalk ending, while allowing a slight sweetness to be created in the leaves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  
|
|
Copyrights © 2023 TeaHong.com. All rights reserved
|
|
|
|
|