Grown about 500m up on Baguashan mountain this Taiwanese oolong is harvested during the Winter solstice, the tea tree mistakenly thinks that spring is coming early and produces new buds prematurely during the coldest part of the year, the turmoil of temperature changes they go through results in a unique tea known as Dong Pian a great value tea for that fresh green oolong taste.

This tea brings with it a fresh vegetal smell with some buttery notes and a sweet, slightly tart taste that quickly coats your mouth and emerges stronger from the 3rd infusion. It brings a slight warmth to your cheeks and after some delay a mild caffeine feeling in your head, less prominent than more traditionally spring-harvested teas. The liquor is a light green-gold. In later infusions you might notice a bit of a more viscous texture. Try brewing this tea at slightly lower temperatures to reduce any bitterness you find.

Processing:

This tea is handpicked before being withered for three hours in the sun and 2 hours inside, next the tea is put in a long cylindrical bamboo chamber that rotates known as a da lang (大浪), bruising the leaves and causing oxidation. Once the desired level of oxidation is reached the tea is fired at 300°C to halt the process. Next the leaf is bruised again in a rolling machine to help release and evenly distribute the oils within the leaves. Next they’re left to dry on bamboo trays, rolling into their ball shape and finally dried in a heated chamber at 68°C for 2.5 hours.

The producers recommend rinsing this tea (doing a few seconds long first infusion to be discarded).