Chen Hui Yi 通过一个她已合作六季的茶农合作社取得这批茶。她本身的专业在于福鼎白茶和广东的老白茶传统,但过去十年每个春天,她都会在清明前这个时段走访浙江的绿茶山脊——部分原因是为了保持味蕾的敏锐,部分原因是这里的锅炒杀青,用她的话说,与她在白茶中所信赖的细心低温收尾工艺最为接近。
杀青在采摘后四小时内于铁锅中完成。制茶者是狮峰当地一个第三代家族,他们仍然用手将每片茶叶压在锅壁上压平——这个手势称为 dā(搭)——正是这手艺赋予正宗龙井狭长、剑形的扁平外型,而非廉价仿品那种卷曲或揉捻的叶片。我们购入了一小批;这份5克样品来自第二天采摘的茶叶,Chen Hui Yi 认为它是三天中最均衡的。
The leaf, brewed
Chestnut, snap-pea, a slow orchid finish
dry leaf
Flat, sword-shaped blades in jade-yellow with a soft toasted-rice scent and faint sweet hay.
wet leaf
Whole bud-and-leaf opens to bright lime-green, glossy, smelling of cut snap-pea and warm chestnut skin.
liquor
Pale jade-gold, very clear — almost no sediment when poured off a tall glass.
aroma
Roasted chestnut up front, then a cooler register of orchid and steamed soybean.
taste
Round and buttery on the front of the tongue, vegetal-sweet through the middle, with the soft umami that good Shifeng always shows on first infusion.
finish
Cooling, slightly mineral — a thin huigan that returns as orchid maybe twenty seconds later.
Brewing
A method, not a recipe.
Method
grandpa
Ratio
3g per 200ml (use the full 5g across two glasses)
Water temp
80–82°C
First infusion
drink down to one-third, then top up — no strict steep time
Subsequent
2–3 top-ups from the same leaves; the second pour is often the sweetest