Verdant Tea

2022 Reserve Pine Needle Green

2022 Reserve Pine Needle Green

CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK
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He Qingqing's Favorite Green Tea
Qingqing developed this unique finish with her father to bring out minerality and spice in her family's tea. Early harvest with notes of clover honey, cucumber, ginger, melon and cream.
April 2022 ♦ Laoshan, Shandong
He Qingqing's Favorite Green Tea
Qingqing developed this unique finish with her father to bring out minerality and spice in her family's tea. Early harvest with notes of clover honey, cucumber, ginger, melon and cream.
April 2022 ♦ Laoshan, Shandong
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SPRING 2022 PRE-ORDER

This spring 2022 pre-order tea has been picked by the He Family in Laoshan and is available to reserve on pre-order while supplies last.

This tea is expected to ship around the end of June. Orders containing this pre-order tea will ship once all teas in your order have arrived.

Crafted By the He Family

Pioneers and community leaders, the He Family is dedicated to making a name for their stunningly smooth, malty, rich teas cultivated in China’s coldest, northernmost growing region.
 
Grown using old-school organic farming techniques on the rocky foothills of Laoshan, protected by ocean mist and fed by sweet spring water.
    • DATE OF PICKINGApril 18, 2022
    • Laoshan VillageShandong Province
    • ELEVATIONSEA LEVEL
    • Longjing QuntiTea Varietal

    Mr. He’s daughter Qingqing, co-owner of Verdant Tea, pioneered this finishing style with her father. She loves the long delicate twisting technique for the way the leaves dance in a glass pitcher as they unfold yielding a delicate nuanced brew that lasts over multiple steepings. The hand pulled and twisted finish on this early shade-grown reserve harvest shows off the delicate deep-green buds that the family picks with so much care, cultivating with sustainable chemical free farming, and fed by sweet mountain spring water.

  • true
    50
    clover honey
    true
    65
    cucumber
    true
    60
    ginger, coriander
    true
    60
    creme pattisserie
    true
    55
    melon
    true
    minerality

    Tasting Profile

    • floral - clover honey
    • vegetal - cucumber
    • spice - ginger, coriander
    • savory - creme pattisserie
    • fruit - melon
    • texture - minerality

The He Family also recommends:

  1. Wood-Fired Reserve Laoshan Osmanthus Black
    Wood-Fired Reserve Laoshan Osmanthus Black

    The He Family is known for their bold willingness to innovate, and this singular tea is a perfect example of the way they push the boundaries of genre. Wild-picking Laoshan osmanthus and using it to scent buddy resrev-level black tea is still a new craft in Laoshan, just a few years old, but the results have been spectacular, juicy, a and almost oolong-like. This year, He Qingqing wanted to push the idea of oolong inspiration, borrowing roasting craft from Wuyishan and giving her family's black tea a special secondary wood-firing to bring out deep toasty depth. The results really are in the style of teas like Tieluohan. Instead of overwhelming the osmanthus, the roast balances it, adding depth to the honeyed dessert-like qualities of the He Family's black tea.

  2. 2022 Reserve Laoshan Gongfu Black
    2022 Reserve Laoshan Gongfu Black

    True Competition-Level Black Tea from Laoshan. This is the earliest, sweetest, most delicate harvest of the year, meticulously hand-rolled and twisted in the style of high-end Wuyi tea. The "gongfu" finish brings out notes of nutmeg, brown sugar, and fine dark chocolate.

  3. 2022 Autumn Laoshan Gongfu Black
    2022 Autumn Laoshan Gongfu Black

    Mr He uses meticulous black tea loose leaf finishing techniques to twist and curl these beautiful buds, using traditional sun-oxidation to make a rich and deeply complex black tea. The result is Lashan’s most mineral-forward and complex black tea to date. This tea is fed by mountain spring water, picked by hand, and cultivated sustainably using traditional chemical-free farming techniques including growing rows of soybean between rows of tea to restore nitrates to the soil. The finished tea picks up the rocky minerality of the soil, and careful low temperature roasting brings out deep brown sugar sweetness.

Spring 2022 Update from the Fields

Cold weather in Laoshan means smaller yields, and a long season of shade-grown covered green tea before the protective greenhouse coverings come down. 

A very mild spring with very little rainfall has made for particularly concentrated creamy textural green tea and black tea. Cool weather persisted longer than usual, which kept protective shaded coverings on through April. This meant slow growth, but particularly tender sweet buds.

Not only is He Qingqing busy helping her parents finish this spring's fresh tea, but she and her husband are also celebrating the arrival of their son Liu Mu-Mu, just a few months old and already helping with the fresh Flat Pressed Laoshan Green.

Congratulations to the He Family for a wonderful spring season!

Liu Jiaqi with her brother Mu Mu
Mr. He makes Laoshan Biluochun
fresh 2022 Laoshan tea leaves
2022 Reserve Laoshan Biluochun
Liu Jiaqi's father with fresh Laoshan tea
Liu MuMu learns about tea with his grandmother

photos courtesy of He Qingqing, April 2022

  • 'Thankfully 2019-2020 was a mild winter compared to the last two years, meaning that the plants in China’s northernmost tea growing region did not suffer frost damage. The He Family's plants have been able to recover, and this new recovery growth has been rich and tender, a boon for the He Family after so many difficult years.'

  • 5
    6-8
    175
    20 seconds
    10
    5
    6
    175
    5 seconds
    4
    5
    12
    76
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    5 g.6-8
    oz.
    use 175° watersteep 20 secondsresteep many times
    add 10 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    5 g.6 ozuse 175° watersteep 5 seconds
    add 4 sec. per steeping
    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

    5 g.12
    oz.
    use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
    8 hours
    add ice & enjoy

Product Photo Gallery

Liu Jiaqi with her brother Mu Mu
Mr. He makes Laoshan Biluochun
fresh 2022 Laoshan tea leaves
2022 Reserve Laoshan Biluochun
Liu Jiaqi's father with fresh Laoshan tea
Liu MuMu learns about tea with his grandmother

photos courtesy of He Qingqing, April 2022

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