Grandma's Tea -- Alishan Wild Cultivar Tea Balls

Grandma's Tea 'Camellia formosensis sinensis' **This year we partnered with the tea garden to create some beautiful packaging. All the writing on the box and tea ball was hand brushed by a Master Calligrapher. We are so happy to be able to share them with you! *Limited to only one tea ball per customer. We only have a few balls of this special tea. The story of these leaves is fascinating and explains the amazingly unique taste of these teas. 80 years ago a farmer planted some wild indigenous Taiwanese Tea Plants (Camellia formosensis) from seed that had interbred with his 'normal' tea plants (Camellia sinensis) in an unused part of his land on Alishan. He then promptly forgot about it for about 50 years! His son, now in his 70s, rediscovered this patch of tea forest about 10 years ago and has been slowly experimenting with these wild grown hybrid tea trees and developing them to get a viable crop. We have carried this tea a couple times over the years but each year's harvest has been uneven as our friends experiment to create the best processing style for this most unique of all Alishan teas. This year's batch used a mid oxidized processing style that creates recognizable and familiar Alishan Oolong 'sinensis' upfront flavor that smoothly transitions to the earthly sweet green leaf litter not that is the unmistakable soul of the 'formosensis' teas. The results are rare, fascinating and fun as this tea brews up aspects of both 'formosensis' and 'sinensis' genetics! Why is it called Grandma's Tea? The story goes that this rare flavor profile was the favorite of the Grandma of the current tea master who is now in his 70s. She didn't like the 'modern' green high mountain oolong flavors and the sharp notes of the newer cultivars. Every year, our friend would make a special batch of tea just for his Grandmother using this rare mid-oxidized, tea ball style of processing. These tea balls are a product of this history and we are happy to be sharing it with you. Elevation: 1500m Status: Wild Garden, Organic Cultivar: Central Taiwan Wild Cultivar, Camellia Formosensis hybridized with Camellia Sinensis(Most likely Qin Xin Oolong), 70-80 Year old forest grown trees Season: Spring 2025 Method: Hand picked, processed on site, very small batch Oxidization: 30% Region: Alishan, Chaiyi Recommend Brewing Style: Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~95-100C water(205-212f), 20 second steeps for first 3-4 steeps then adjust to taste. Lasts 7+ steeps. Western Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~95-100C water(205-212f), 1-2 minute steeps This tea is best brewed somewhere in between a Puer and an Oolong. Not flash steeps, but short, hot steeps work pretty good. Experiment and find the best way to brew for you!