Another great tea from Chaochatea. This time it is a white tea from Yunnan known as moonlight tea. I did try it before and liked it.
The legend for the moonlight tea is that the tea is picked before dawn, and then dried under the shade. Like this, they do not see the sun until the leaves become tea. I read some comments that this was not the real story (picking leaves before dawn does not sound practical). A second story suggests that the way the leaves were processed caused one side of the leaf being light in colour and the other side dark, like a moon. I like this explanation better because the double colour character of the leaves makes this tea unique.
So, on the photo, you see two cups. The lighter liquid results from the first steeping and the darker one is a slightly exaggerated second steeping gave very different. The first one was a fresh and delicate tea, and the second one felt like a mature, sweet aged white tea. While I did not feel any astringency in neither of the infusions, I tasted almost two different teas which showed me how versatile this tea could be. The Chaochatea recommends a lower steeping temperature of 75-85°C for this tea. But I went bold at 90-100°C, and the result was not bad at all.
Tea Profile:
Type: White
Origin: Yunnan
Harvest time: 2019
Leaf colour: Fuzzy white and black leaves
Liquor colour: From pale yellow to dark yellow depending on the infusion time
Tea Aroma: From minreral to malt
Tea Taste: From refreshing to woody sweetness
Steeping: Place 5g in 100ml of water at 90ºC and rinse after 5 seconds. Steep for 10 seconds during the first infusion,and add 10 seconds to the subsequent infusions. You can re-steep this tea multiple times.
Shelf life: Can be aged
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