Chinese green

 Pearl tea
 Leaves become slightly fermented during processing
 Stored and then pan-fired
 Tea from Jiangsu province
 East coast of China
 Known for twisted shape and pure, fresh, consistent taste
 Tea often planted with fruit trees in Jiangsu
 This tea scented with Jasmine
 Guangxi Jasmine
 80% of Jasmine in China, 60% in the world
 Have to pick by when the buds are the exact right size
 Bloomed already, sour
 Too small, won’t bloom
 Picked at 10am and delivered to market by 4pm
 Manufacturer warms them to encourage opening
 Lay out in layers with green tea and heated 10-12 hours
 Divided out by hand (high quality, no jasmine left in tea)
 Leaves heated and re-scented one last time in humid conditions then packaged
 Curled into pearls to hold that aroma, unfurls in the heat to release Jasmine
 Smooth with a brilliant jasmine aroma and lingering taste.

Japanese
 Sencha
o Japanese tea differs from Chinese – steamed
o Japanese tea leaf grading system
o Kukicha, Bancha, Sencha, Gyokuro
o Sencha – infusing processed, whole tea leaves in hot water
o This type of sencha is specifically known as “asamushi” – lightly steamed to
prevent oxidation
o Gyokuro – covered green tea – 20 days or more
o Kabuse – covered sencha
o 2 weeks before picking, plantation covered with screen
o Increase amino acids – distinct flavor – smoother than sencha
o Obubu tea farms in Kyoto
o Obubu is slang for tea
o Farm prides itself on its charity work, community outreach programs, and
education initiatives
o One of Obubu's higest grades of sencha
 o A very smooth sencha with a creamy texture and umami taste coupled with a
gentle sweetness.

 Kabuse Zairai
o Zairai seeds
o Zairai means “native”
o Hundreds of years old – so old the tea plants are now tea trees
o No single cultivar of zairai – all unique plants – “natural blend”
o Very few zairai fields left
o Drinking a piece of Japanese history
o It has a smooth almost creamy sweet taste with a very gentle umami finish.

India
 China special
o “Tippy” tea – Chinese farmers realized tea tips (small, unopened leaves of the
tea plant) were the sweetest part of the tea leaf
o Tea plant stores nutrients over winter and, in spring, pushes them out in the first
tea tips
o Darjeeling grading system
o Orange Pekoe, Flowery Orange Pekoe, Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Tippy
Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
o FTGFOP1 – superior – Special Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
o FTGFOP1 Highest quality with best tip to leaf ratio
o Gopaldhara tea estate – Mirik Valley
o Established in 1881 by Gopal – Dhara is a small stream in the local Nepali
language
o One of the highest estates in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal India
o Average elevation of 6000ft, highest 7000ft
o This tea 4900ft elevation
o Picked in March 2020, first flush
o produced exclusively from the original 130 year old 'china' bushes, originally used by
the British Empire to setup India's tea industry. These bushes have been largely
replaced by assamica throughout India with the exception of Darjeeling, where some
of these original bushes survive.
o A premium hand-rolled first flush with a wonderfully smooth crisp floral taste
and aroma with hints of sweetness combined with little-to-no astringency.
 Rohini
o Owned by Gopaldhara
o Darjeeling’s youngest tea estate – Kurseong Valley
o Closed 1962 for 30 years until new owner and his grandson took over
o Average elevation of highest field is 4400ft
o All bushes planted 1996 and after
 o New factory with food safety and hygiene requirements set by the Netherlands
o First flush
o Clonal tea – clones – controlled breeding for best results, very expensive, rarely
done – no seeds – only hybrid clones
o FTGFOP1
o A fantastic Darjeeling for the price with a smooth sweet  floral and fruity taste.
 Wonder gold
o First flush, April 2020
o 4900ft
o Gopaldhara's signature first flush tea, of which only one invoice was produced
in 2020 due to India's lockdown. The tea possesses an incredible floral aroma
which is combined with a brilliant smooth apricot taste  with a crisp finish.

Georgian:
 Davit
o Georgia’s climate resembles India, Kenya, and China
o Makes for better wine - Failed tea dynasties
o Cantonese tea expert 1893
o By 1900 won “best tea in the world” in Paris
o Georgia absorbed into USSR
o Only subtropical country in USSR
o Prized for mandarins, tomatoes, tea
o By 1950 Georgian tea supplied half the world
o At the end of the 1980s, USSR demanded modernization, picking machines,
artificial fertilizers
o Lipton became most popular tea in USSR
o 1991 collapse – Georgia independent – most Georgians drink wine, not tea
o Why give Russia our tea?
o Fields overtaken by nature
o Last 5 years, tea renaissance
o Davit’s family owned a small tea plot, grew up next to a massive tea plantation
o Spent last few years recovering the tea fields by hand
o Couldn’t remove walnut and chestnut trees – left them for shade and birds are
natural pesticides
o Everything natural and organic
o Makes his equipment by hand – made tea curler, owns one from China never
used
o Custom wooden processing equipment
o Prefers drying tea leaves in a sealed room heated by antique stove fueled with
branches from the trees in the fields instead of electric heaters
 o Sorts tea by hand
o Georgia is poor – electricity expensive there – better for him and better, more
pure, consistent taste for us
o Phoenix tea – rebirth of Georgian tea
o An aromatic smooth sweet tea with a stone fruit taste, which is very receptive to
extended brew times without any detectable bitterness or astringency.
 Wild
o A unique black tea produced from abandoned tea bushes which have been left to
grow wild. It has a very smooth sweet taste with lingering stone fruit notes.