Type: White Tea
Origin: Yangta, Jinggu, Yunnan, China
GPS: 23.7° N 100.6°E, alt. 1700m - 1800m
Harvest: summer 2020
We find that boiling or close to boiling water extracts beautiful aromas from these very thick, resilient tea leaves. Water at origin boils at close to 93°C, which seems to us like a perfect temperature for this tea. We recommend brewing it gong fu style.
Water: 108ml
Tea: 5g
Time: 35"
Steeps: >10
A Qing Dynasty Garden and a Heirloom Tea Trees
Jinggu is located north of Menghai and South of Dali. Nesting in stunning mountains, it is both the ancestral home of Yi people and the origin for the Da Bai (大白) tea trees. These heirlooms, treasured at least since the Qing Dynasty, have particularly thick leaves covered in ‘white down’, which makes them ideal to handcraft white tea.
This garden in Yangta, Jinggu, was planted over 400 years ago. In the 1800’s, it’s tea was sent as tribute to Beijing. Over the past 1/2 century, the land tea trees have been managed by the Yi nation.
We visited Jinggu in 2011; you may remember our earliest versions of White Moonlight and Silver Needles coming from this place. We are thrilled to get our hands on Jinggu tea again,
Expect a white tea packed with flavours of tropical fruits, and the characteristic honey aftertaste of white moonlight.