Chen Hui Yi 透過一個她已合作六季的茶農合作社取得這批茶。她本身的專業在於福鼎白茶和廣東的老白茶傳統,但過去十年每個春天,她都會在清明前這個時段走訪浙江的綠茶山脊——部分原因是為了保持味蕾的敏銳,部分原因是這裡的鍋炒殺青,用她的話說,與她在白茶中所信賴的細心低溫收尾工藝最為接近。
殺青在採摘後四小時內於鐵鍋中完成。製茶者是獅峰當地一個第三代家族,他們仍然用手將每片茶葉壓在鍋壁上壓平——這個手勢稱為 dā(搭)——正是這手藝賦予正宗龍井狹長、劍形的扁平外型,而非廉價仿品那種捲曲或揉捻的葉片。我們購入了一小批;這份5克樣品來自第二天採摘的茶葉,Chen Hui Yi 認為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