Just to clarify: First pick green tea is not always the best
Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 9:11 am
This morning I came back from Hou Gu which is in the core region of Huang Shan and produces a Mao Feng that was really loved last year.
I was there April 1st and the first thing the guy who makes the tea said to me was, it's too early.
They were picking tea, they were making tea, but the tea was too small.
Green tea has an optimial size, different for each tea, before this size the flavor of the tea is too weak and has no flavor/complexity. I tasted some of the tea that was picked that day. It has sweetness, some floralness, but just tasted like the rinse steep of a tea; tasting like a flavor was about to come but never did. (granpa styled it, whole bunch of leaves in a small cup)
Things like first pick/first flush and pre qing ming are good for beginners, but I think as people get more into chinese tea they should understand the first pick may not always be the best.
Any thoughts on my thoughts?
I was there April 1st and the first thing the guy who makes the tea said to me was, it's too early.
They were picking tea, they were making tea, but the tea was too small.
Green tea has an optimial size, different for each tea, before this size the flavor of the tea is too weak and has no flavor/complexity. I tasted some of the tea that was picked that day. It has sweetness, some floralness, but just tasted like the rinse steep of a tea; tasting like a flavor was about to come but never did. (granpa styled it, whole bunch of leaves in a small cup)
Things like first pick/first flush and pre qing ming are good for beginners, but I think as people get more into chinese tea they should understand the first pick may not always be the best.
Any thoughts on my thoughts?