Another tea from the 2023 Nantou Tea Expo, this one caught our taste buds by surprise by the hints of cinnamon that we got when trying it. Overall it is a decent, mid-mountain black tea with some nice red fruit notes and sweet malts, but where the fun starts is the hint of cinnamon that comes out when you brew it just right.
With just the right temperature of water, ~90-95C, a beautiful sweet cinnamon note pops up that makes this tea memorable. If the water is too hot, the volatile cinnamon note flavor compounds get burnt off and you are left with an affordable and decent mid mountain black. If brewed just right however, that rare cinnamon note comes out and makes the tea unique. It is a fun one to test your brewing skills, if you are into that type of thing…
Grown in the Zhu Shan(Bamboo Mountain, hence the name) area of Nantou, this is one of the first teas we have had from that area. It is not known as the best growing area but if we find more fun teas like this one, perhaps we might have to visit there in the future!
Elevation: 1000m
Status: Tested Agrochemical Safe
Cultivar: QinXin
Oxidization: 100%
Season: Summer 2023
Method: Hand picked, processed on site, small batch
Region: Zhu Shan, Nantou
Recommend Brewing Style:
Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~95C water, 30, 45, 60 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 4-5+ steeps.
Western Style: 3g per 100ml, ~95C water for 3 minutes. Lasts 2-3 steeps.