This is a greener, very tightly rolled style Anxi grown wulong with minimal roasting. It provides crisp floral notes and a lingering spring greenness. Fairly complex and sweet, it is the greener counterpart to our other, higher roast wulongs, as we wanted to offer both styles to satisfy serious wulong enthusiasts.
About the leaves:
Grown at an elevation between 700 and 1000 meters above sea level, the 7 cm long leaves were hand-plucked from 12-year-old trees in May. Consisting of one bud and 2-3 leaves, this wulong is then hand-fired by the tea master. It is then roasted once as around 65-80 degrees celsius.
Oolong Tea | Moderate caffeine | Steep at 195° for 2-3 minutes.
Not to be confused with Anji, Anxi County is a small, but famous tea production region for oolong tea. At around 3,000 square kilometers, it is located in the southern Fujian Province of China.
Anxi is particularly known for Tie Guan Yin, Anxi has been given the title of "China Tea Capital". Traditional methods call for medium oxidation and a heavy roast, while modern styles are much more lightly oxidized to produce floral notes and a greener result.
It wasn't until around 1995 when a shift in the market influenced the processing of the leaves. Before then, Anxi oolongs had flat, open leaves. Not the rolled method we are familiar with today.