Honey and the Razors Edge

This cake is a blend of spring and autumn material, from Yiwu and Bulang. The Yiwu tea is a purple leaf varietal from Yiwu, with lovely aroma, sweet taste and good depth. To provide some contrast (and contrast it is!), we paired it with some ancient tree material from Lao Man’e and Man Xin Long old village in Bulang Mountains. Although the Lao Man’e tea is locally known as sweet tea, compared to Yiwu tea it’s still quite bitter. This tea has a slowly building bitterness that lingers on the edges of the tongue, inducing saliva and a very long aftertaste. It gives nice strength and structure to the blend.