Green Tea After Eating

Product Description:

A fresh, strong organic green tea rolled into tight pearls. The tea makers at Chunli Company carefully shape the leaf using heated pans, coaxing out a wide range of aromas and flavors that are best explored by steeping the same leaves at least twice.

On the first steep, this beautiful green tea jumps out of the cup with a citrus bouquet. As it relaxes in the second steep, its tightly wound pearls fully unfurl with a magnitude of savory flavors, ranging from briny seaweed to comforting smoked artichoke. To release this tea’s full vegetal strength without being overwhelmed by its astringency, it’s best to begin with a light, short steep that sets up your cup for the longer, hotter second and third steeps. Lovers of Japanese sencha and matcha green tea are likely to enjoy this tea.

After harvest, tea makers begin processing this gunpowder by hitting the harvested green leaf with a dry heat. The hot air vapor sucks out moisture and brings out the leaf’s cooked, smoky notes. This step also deactivates the enzyme that would otherwise trigger the oxidization process and make this a black tea instead of a green. After a short rolling to coat the tea in its own essential oils, the leaves are tossed into the air using heated metal pans. This process gives the tea its pearled shape--the leaves first shrink and curl when in contact with the hot metal, and then briefly expand when exposed to the cool air. After three hours of cycling between heating and cooling, the tea emerges as tight balls packed with flavors ready to explode into the cup. The final step is to finish the tea, which is done with a round of direct, dry heat.