Xiaozhong Huangpian 2017

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This tea was produced in Tongmuguan, Unesco world heritage protected area where tea trees grow in a pristine environment. Unlike most areas of Wuyishan that are at relatively low elevation, Tongmuguan is situated at a much higher altitude of around 1000mt.

Huangpian are called the older leaves that get discarded from production. They are ugly to see and their flavor is weaker than fresh leaves making them undesirable as they would lower the grade and price of a finished tea. Therefore they are usually discarded.

There is no market value for these leaves, they are usually not for sale and if you bought some you would be likely considered a fool by most advanced tea drinkers. We don’t really care and decided to offer some because we think they are nice to drink and it can be interesting to try. Although lacking the complexity, depth and intensity of flavor of normal leaves, this tea has a nice sweetness and smooth mouth feeling with no bitterness or astringency, It is a very enjoyable tea for any time and leaves a nice sweet aftertaste.

Moreover these leaves come from older trees (laocong) left to grow freely in Tongmuguan. Tree reaching a certain age gives tea a special flavor called “cong wei” or old tree flavor which in this tea is present although weakly.

We recommend this tea for both beginners and more experienced tea drinkers looking for an affordable daily drinker black tea. Huangpian and sticks have less caffeine than other leaves making this tea very gentle and mild. If you are looking for strong and hard to forget fragrances in your black tea you might want to try other teas such as our Yanxun Xiaozhong or our Little Bird Hongcha instead.

To get an idea of the differences in Xiaozhong taste we can also suggest to try our Hongcha Tasting box.