Meizhan has always been a part of Song’s tea collection in one form or another. Past collections have included New Craft Meizhan, a white tea, and Gold Bud Meizhan, a red - though the Meizhan cultivar is grown primarily for oolong tea. This year’s batch embraces this tradition and is crafted in the manner of a mid-oxidized twisted leaf roasted tea, with prodigious flavor and viscosity.

Originally hailing Wuyishan, the Meizhan cultivar has dark, purple tinged leaf buds and produces tea with strong aromatics. Our garden lies just outside the Wuyishan preserve, and offers an interesting dichotomy of the tea making in this region: demand and pricing is always higher for Wuyi teas grown within the bounds of the ecological park. And while the gardens nearby can’t compete with the popularity of true Wuyi teas, they often compensate by dialing in their production, crafting teas with incredible attention to detail that result in flavors and character that exceeds their “true” counterparts.

Our Meizhan Yancha epitomizes this phenomenon. Grown in a certified organic garden just two hourss outside Wuyishan park at 600m, it is isolated from other tea growing areas. The leaves were harvested in early May 2018, then mid-oxidized to bring out their innate fruit and floral notes. Two successive rounds of roasting followed, just enough to impart a sugar note to the tea, but not so much as to override its fruit and floral character. We received this tea two years after its last roast, allowing its subtle complexity to shine.

One of the most surprising characteristics of this tea is its viscosity. We rarely encounter a yancha, or “rock tea” grown outside of the Wuyishan preserve that delivers the thick texture this one does. It offers a range of character that can be coaxed forth by varied brewing styles. Steeped at our suggested parameters, Meizhan Yancha brews lush and sweet, with a hint of aromatic bitterness on the finish. Longer, higher temperature extraction highlights that finish, and lower temperature extractions will deliver sweetness and texture.