Gaofeng Organic "Citrus Drop" Oolong Tea - Spring 2019
Gaofeng Organic "Citrus Drop" Oolong Tea - Spring 2019 Gaofeng Organic "Citrus Drop" Oolong Tea - Spring 2019 Gaofeng Organic "Citrus Drop" Oolong Tea - Spring 2019 Gaofeng Organic "Citrus Drop" Oolong Tea - Spring 2019
$ 13.00

This "Citrus Drop" is the successor of our "Citrus Noon" from the spring of 2018. This year we decide to alter the processing  step a little bit to see how the tea may change. With super clean environment and extreme care during the processing, we believe this tea won't make anyone disappointed, especially those who have been missing the "jade oolong" style tea since the spring of 2018.

 

Like all of the high elevation tea factories this day (or even for those at lower elevation), processing tea has become just another "daily routine" most of the time for economic reason. Most of the teas were processed not for creating great tea, but simply for creating something that can taste like  "tea," and this is why lots of tea drinkers are suffering from stomach issue when drinking the commonly known "jade oolong" from Taiwan.

 

It is not clear now whether the purpose of jade oolong creation was to simply please the domestic market or more because of that most of the tea factories constructed at the time found it extremely difficult to process "traditional" oolong tea given the circumstances and conditions such as the labor cost and tough geographic set-up. Moreover, a new concept of "higher elevation equals better quality" began to surf among the mind of tea drinkers thanks to the invention of "Tea Art".  After decades of development since 1980s, jade oolong has became a new norm for Taiwanese tea market, and this trend also transformed how westerners perceive Taiwanese tea. At the end, the so called "High Mountain Jade Oolong Tea" became a unique scene in the world of tea and synonym of "Taiwanese Tea."  The traditional process (which takes lots of care and detail) gradually disappeared from the market (due to the rise of Jade Oolong processing) and eventually the knowledge was lost from the new generation of tea maker.

 

Fortunately, the knowledge was finally re-discovered again, and "Citrus Noon"  was the very first oolong tea to be processed this carefully from elevation this high. However, we were requested by lots of tea lovers to try the "jade oolong" processing on this plantation, so we decided to alter the guideline a little bit to cope with this demand.  

 

We again do not categorize this as another jade oolong, for this tea still does not resemble one in certain way. We still would like to call it "oolong tea" despite its lighter character that is similar to jade oolong, and the light roast version will once again carry a pleasant chocolate like flavor in your mouth with the same smooth character. 

 

We strongly one who would love to learn the difference of "jade oolong" and "oolong" to use this "Citrus Drop" as a guiding tea. We hope besides enjoying it, you would have a new revelation of Taiwan tea!

 

 

Harvest:  Spring 2019 / 春 貳零壹玖

Varietal:  Qing Xin Oolong  /  青心烏龍

Elevation:  1500 M / 仟伍佰 公尺

Region:  Wushe Gaofeng / 霧社 高峰

Fermentation Level:  15% / 分之 拾伍

Roast Level:  0 ~ 2 / 無 ~ 貳分

 

 

  Brewing......

 

Such fresh and bright citrus sweet aromas from the fresh wet leaves. I've been really enjoying the Gaofeng series of teas each harvest season. This tea "drops" such a pelasant and vibrant character on the palate. It grips the mouth with it's lingering citrus-like tangy body. It keeps good flavor too in lonner steeps. Super tasty tea!

 

 "Citrus Drop" is like an experiment to us this year. We wanted to test the possibility of fermentation, and that was what we did on our beloved "Citrus" series. We want to know whether fermentation could be successful if we applied a "lighter" approach. It turned out that fermentation status of a tea is still viable with a "lighter" approach and such approach won't turn the tea into another "jade oolong." As a result, this "Citrus Drop" is a successfully made oolong tea. The character is somewhat similar to a traditionally made Baozhong, but much mellowed than one. This is a great tea to begin a day to an old dog's dog brain!