Cultivar: Qingxin Ganzhong

Harvested by hand on March 10th, 2025

Origin: San Hsia, Taiwan Process: green tea (tumbling oven dried)

Testing parameters: 2 grams, 6 minutes brew, boiling water.

1. View

Lots of white buds among the dry leaves. They show some inconsistency in size, color and appearance, because the leaves grow a little bit unevenly in this organic garden. The brew has a very clear and light yellow hue.

2. The scents

Extreme freshness and lightness in this very first batch of the year! This year's first spring harvest on a 10th of March is 5 days later than last year, because of a lack of rain. It happened on a sunny day, after several days of needed rain. This first batch of the year has the lightest and finest fragrances possible. 

3. The taste

The taste is very light, sweet and has a lot fine aftertaste. What makes this green tea exceptional is how sweet it remains even after several minutes of brewing.

Conclusion: Taiwan is known for its Oolong teas since the late 19th century. This green tea appeared after 1949 as Chiang Kai Shek's general's were longing for Chinese green tea that could not be imported from the mainland because of the hostilities between the island and the mainland. That's why farmers in SanHsia started to produce green tea to satisfy the needs of the many mainlanders who had come to Taiwan with the KMT and were used to such tea. This batch is, like last year, the first batch of spring. The quality of this rare Taiwan green tea comes from the organic purity of the leaves and the very early harvest time. Only 4.6 kg were produced on that day. I highly recommend it!