Ailao

This aged Jincha from Qianjiazhai presents a thick, viscous liquor with a uniquely uplifting and activating character. Expect a pungent, sweet perfume on the empty cup, followed by a healthy astringen. It leans sweet, astringent and perfumed.

Water around 95–100 °C (203–212 °F). In a mug, steep 3–5 min. For gongfu, use 5–7 g per 100 ml, 10–20 s steeps (10–20+ rounds). You'll get to see how the flavor changes across multiple rounds. Rinse the leaves once with boiling water before your first real steep. It cleans off storage dust and gets the flavor going.

Grown in Yunnan, China. This batch is from the 2011 harvest.

Starts at $125.00 from Teas We Like, or about $0.42/g. A 300g package gets you around 50 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $2.52 per session. Explore more dark teas on Teadar.