Spring Ailao

This tea from the high Ai Lao mountains opens with an aromatic orchid fragrance. It offers a thick, soupy texture and a robust mouthfeel, presenting notes of sweet honey and fresh grass, with minimal . It leans floral, honey and robust.

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 from the Xiao Qiao Mu cultivar. This batch is from the Spring 2011 harvest.

Starts at $15.50 from Yunnan Sourcing, or about $0.40/g. A 25g package gets you around 4 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $2.40 per session. Compare dark prices across vendors on Teadar.