Golden Dragon Tippy Black Tea, Lot 240

We are honoured to be able to propose this exclusive selection of two black teas called Golden Dragon. This tea, along with its little brother, both originate from our own area of Mingjian Township and are very good examples at how some younger tea producers are now charting new territories in tea making. Using traditional methods and original Taiwanese cultivars, they re-interpret what tea making is all about in a very exciting way. This Lot is a high-quality hand-picked tea consisting of younger leaves with a significant presence of golden buds, hence the adjective “tippy”. These tips will render a nice honey-like sweetness to the tea. Furthermore, much like a wine made from an assemblage of different grapes, this it is a mixed-leaf tea, not a blend, where fresh leaves from different cultivars are mixed before the tea making process instead of after. This allows all the leaves to undergo the same transformation process enabling their distinctive characters to blend-into a more harmonious result. This mix uses leaves from 4 cultivars including the very rare T-20. The result gives a smooth and delicately intricate tea that is quite refreshing and incredibly easy to drink. There is nothing brash in this tea: a creamy oat cereal aroma and taste lingers on for many infusions. The cereal notes are intertwined with exotic fruit and mild wild honey sweetness that makes it quite refreshing. If you don’t like astringency, this is the tea for you! And why is called Golden Dragon, you may ask? There is no clever marketing ploy here. It so happens that the maker’s name is Jin Long which means Golden Dragon. He is also a member of the family. And we will humbly add that he fully merits to have this magnificient tea bear his name!