About this tea

This micro-lot of Green Needles was produced in the early spring from tea bushes called Qun Ti Zhong, which means an indigenous or localized heirloom variety of tea bush. This Qun Ti Zhong has been selected and revered in this region of Hubei since the mid-1700s for green tea and black tea. The rocky gardens and rich soils of Xuan En offer rich tasting and balanced green teas with high density, bold energy and slight umami with evergreen and alpine notes that refresh and invigorate. Green Needles, or “Lu Zhen,” is a traditional pine needle-shaped green tea. After indoor withering, the tea leaves are fired in a small tumble-roaster and shaped using a heating and shaking technique that straightens the leaves into a needle shape. The tea leaves are then dried with flowing hot air and baked to perfection to fix the fresh aroma and taste. Every spring we savor the rich complexity of this heirloom garden’s first spring harvested green tea with joy. Green Needles is not a well-known Chinese green tea, but it is one of our favorites that showcases remote terroir and small leaf green tea traditions.