This exquisite green tea is an original Enshi Yulu. Enshi is famous for its agricultural products, especially its high-quality, special teas, which are regarded as among the best green teas in China. Tea has been cultivated in Enshi since the Tang Dynasty in the 6th century.
Yulu means "jade dew", and refers to the delicate jade colour of the cup. This is one of the few teas in China that is still steamed and rolled. Although this method was adopted and became popular in Japan, Chinese teas are typically roasted in a pan or oven rather than steamed. Many so-called Enshi Yulu on the market are imitations that frequently do not come from the region, are not properly steamed, or are even roasted to alter the taste of leaves taken from the second or third harvests rather than the first.
Our tea is directly sourced from a tea farm in one of the top terroirs of Enshi, located at an elevation of 1,100m and surrounded by forests. The region is foremost characterised by Enshi Grand Canyon, a river gorge that is mostly protected as a national park. The breath-taking landscape and fresh air of Enshi attracts thousands of tourists every year. Furthermore, the soil in Enshi constitutes one of the largest natural selenium deposits in the world, and this trace element is present in a relatively high concentration in the tea plants.
The regional climate completes the range of conditions that make Enshi a prime location for growing first-rate tea. The average annual temperature is 16°C, and 240 days of the year are frost-free with an average humidity of 70-80%. With approximately 1,370 hours of sunlight and 1,500mm of rainfall, the climate can be described as humid and subtropical. The bracing climate with significant temperature fluctuations between day and night, as well as sun and fog, helps the tea plants to develop a high nutritional content.
Once ready for harvest, the tea goes through the following stages:
1. Hand-harvest only on sunny days, sometimes well after sunrise to avoid the morning dew
2. Withering for 6-10 hours in well-aired bamboo baskets
3. Steaming for approximately 60 seconds to stop oxidation
4. Cooling of the leaves so that they do not overheat in the next stage
5. Shaking of the leaves under a hot air vent to make them soft
6. Gentle rolling by hand
7. Final rolling to ensure uniformity of the needles
8. Drying to 5% residual moisture, and quality sorting
Single Origin
This tea is exclusively sourced from the above mentioned tea farm in Enshi. Sourced directly from the tea farmer.
