YunWu Cha, or Cloud Mist Tea, is a famous tea that takes its name from the misty clouds surrounding the mountains on which it is grown. These clouds provide both moisture and shade to the tea trees, and the unique and unusual flavors of YunWu Cha come from the tea plants adaptation to this terroir. There are many famous examples of YunWu Cha: the YunWu grown on the sacred Buddhist mountain of Emei shan, the Huading YunWu from Mt. Tiantai in Zhejiang, and the Song Dynasty Imperial Tribute Lu shan YunWu from Jiangxi. This Leaves of Cha tea is the latter. As the saying goes, “Yun wu chu hao cha”, or, “Clouds and mist means good tea.”

Leaves of Cha is especially proud to support women-run tea businesses in what is a primarily male-run industry. So we're happy to bring Zhang Li Hong ‘s tea to our customers.

Provenance:

• Origin: Lu Shan Mountain, Jiu Jiang County, Jiangxi Province, China
• Grower/Teamaster: Zhang Li Hong
• Elevation: 850 meters
• Harvest Date: April 2024
• Cultivar: Yun Wu; Spring Tips or Cloud Mist
• Cultivation: Natural cultivation with no spraying
• Plucking Standard: bud and leaf plucked before being separated
• Processing Notes:  Plucked early in the morning to ensure tender buds; pan fired twice by hand (once for kill-green and then again for rolling into the straight needle-like shape); and a final shaping done between two separate drying phases.
• Nickname: Yun Wu Cha, or Clouds & Mist tea
• History/Pedigree: Originally grown by monks in the Han Dynasty who supposedly brought the plants from Yunnan.       It became a popular well-known tea in China much later (in the Ming Dynasty). Lu Shan Yun Wu is celebrated by Lu Yü and celebrated in poetry by Bai Juyi, both back in the Tang Dynasty(618-907CE)

Brewing Suggestions¹:

• Water: 170-180˚F
• Tea: 2g per 4oz of water (about a level 2 tsp2)
• Infusion: 2 minutes for 2-3 infusions

Tasting Notes:

• Sweet notes with umami and a big mouthfeel (kou gan)

¹ Brewing suggestions are just that. Try it the suggested way then experiment. In this case I suggest experimenting with an “Eastern” style infusion: double the quantity of tea per oz of water and do short infusions of 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and then 1 minute infusions until the tea is steeped out. I usually use a much smaller infusion vessel for this style, maybe 2-4oz as I am going to get so many infusions out of the tea. Some tea drinkers like to use slightly hotter and longer times for each subsequent infusion.

² Weighing your tea is always the best way to control your dosage. I provide approximate volume measures for convenience but they can be problematic due to the variance in tea leaf shape and size. It’s best to use the single appropriate volume measure for the tea, i.e., don’t try to measure 1.5TB using two spoons meant to measure 1 TB and a ½ TB. Use an actual 1.5 TB measuring spoon. Yes, they make them! I like the oblong ones to handle longer leaf styles.