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Wildcrafted Ha-Giang Ancient Forest Black Tea (30g)
$9.00
Region: Ha-Giang Ancient Tea Forest (Viet Nam)
Process: Fully oxidized tea. First Flush
Variety: Ancient, wild, uncultivated native tea tree
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Process: Fully oxidized tea. First Flush
Variety: Ancient, wild, uncultivated native tea tree
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- Ha Giang Province, located in the uppermost northern part of Vietnam, shares the international border with Yunnan Province, a major tea region of China.
- The topography of this area is complex, with many high rocky mountains, numerous live springs, and 2 major rivers - the Lo and the Mien rivers.
- This hauntingly beautiful area - still pristine due to its remoteness and isolation from modern cultivation - is home to scattered ancient forests where tea trees have been growing wild for many generations, without any human intervention or interference.
- Harvesting Notes - The Ethnic Highland Tea Pickers:
- Wild tea trees come out of dormancy just as folks complete their month-long Lunar New Year celebration. Groups of colorfully garbed ethnic highlanders set out to pick tea leaves by hand. The task of picking from branches that are higher up on the trees are reserved for the young girls, who are usually light-weight and can nimbly climb up the tree without damaging it.
- Unopened tea buds are picked first, followed by the standard of 1 buds and 2 leaves.
- The ethnic highlanders tea pickers sell their daily picking to the Vietnamese tea makers for cash to buy necessities such as salt, rice, and gasoline. They may reserve a small part of their picking to process for their own consumption, but do not sell finished dry tea leaves.
- Processing Notes - The Vietnamese Tea Makers:
- Like 2 previous generations of tea maker before him, our 3rd generation tea maker was trained by Yunnan tea makers in the classical Chinese tea making tradition.
- To make a full-bodied black tea, the standard of 1 buds and 2 leaves picking are used.
- The leaves are fully oxidized, or fermented by enzymatic actions, then carefully hand-roasted over open charcoal fire.
- Tasting Notes:
- Full bodied with a sweet floral and fruity aroma.
- Very restrained astringency and bitterness - just enough to uplift and brighten the inherent sweetness of this fully oxidized black tea.
- This fully oxidized ancient wild tea contains catechins, although in lower levels compared to green tea. During the fermentation process of black tea production, catechins are oxidized and dimerized to form other types of polyphenols, such as theaflavins and thearubigins, which also possess antioxidant properties.
- Caffeine Level: High
