Wild Harvested

Tag: white tea

  • A tea that is a symbol of redemption, of radical change and self-determination. Viet Sun Lùng Vài pressed white tea 2022

    A tea that is a symbol of redemption, of radical change and self-determination. Viet Sun Lùng Vài pressed white tea 2022

    A long time has passed, from Chinese cultural domination, from French colonization, from the 30 years of struggle for independence, the time necessary for the rain to give respite to the memory from the pain of the loss. But tea in Vietnam resisted everything as an observer of events, as a symbol of the zeitgeist, the spirit of the time and as such able to invest every era, to be reflected in literature and philosophy, in arts and everyday practice.

    Tea here is not a subject of dispute, the object of a claimed originality, of authenticity, but it is a symbol of restoration and self-affirmation, of a common thread with the past through a new way of doing things, it is a narrator of epics and tragedies, epitome of imaginative experiences of past places, of the old shops of Hanoi, of the narrow and terraced architecture leaning against the alleys full of vendors and trucks, of the old agricultural research stations abandoned and rebuilt in the late 70’s.

    The laobaicha of Viet Sun comes from material of 2022 collected from centenary trees in the area of Lùng Vài, Ha Giang, in the district of Vị Xuyên, at an altitude of 1000-1100 m. Vị Xuyên was the scene of one of the saddest battles that Vietnam saw in its history, a war that until 1985 repelled hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but which is now the district of one of the most interesting productive areas of the country. Tea in this case is a distillate of its place of origin, so expressive as to bear an almost salvific garment for a place, to extract from it its opposite, to exercise their ancient alchemical propositions of transmutation and renewal and at the same time to preserve and protect the scents of an original flowering.

    This is a white tea that gives a perfect daily drink, saturated with sense and without unnecessary garments. Its character is punctuated by ancestral scents, the olfactory notes recall those of a bouquet of roses resting on an antique piece of furniture, in which woody scents are linked to the fragrances of fresh and withered flowers, emerge the fragrance of apricots and kumquats stored in a bamboo basket, while those of spices and leather complete an intense and decadent picture, enlivened by a mnemonic expressiveness not always so frequently experienced.

    The mouthfeel is medium-thick, enveloping, lingering and balanced, distinctive and not similar to any other, enriched with spicy notes and ripe fruit, rhubarb and medicinal herbs. I thank Vietsun project for having contributed greatly to the in-depth discovery of Vietnamese teas, providing excellent material and information for the study of this country, its terroir and its history.

  • Camellia Sinensis Zhenghe aged Baimudan 2012

    Camellia Sinensis Zhenghe aged Baimudan 2012

    Extraordinary teas are born in the hills of Zhenghe, and I am not referring to the subtle and aristocratic traits of a Bai Hao Yin Zhen, but to the more rustic and bourgeois ones of Bai Mu Dan and Shoumei, teas whose time is only able to give decadent splendor unattainable for virtuous tea who do not see the rain, inviting to exercises of reflection and mnemonic recall.


    The trees are low-growing, the Zhenghe Dabai is also a broad-leaved cultivar, on average longer and narrower and with heavier shoots than that of Fuding; typical is the green-yellow color of the shoots with thick hair and a brown-purple contrast.
    Mr.Yang and his family produce this tea near Gaoluntou, 900m altitude, above most Zhenghe and Fuding gardens. Their work celebrates the coexistence between earth and human, sanctifies a type of tea that was typical of a middle class who, like wine, wondered how to get their hands on earthly gratification while holding on to the money of a working day and their status as a dignified self-sufficiency. Time passed, pressing into cakes was convenient for storing tea in piles, and the leaves changed, sealing in them the aromas of an entire village.


    The last leaves of this Bai mu dan from 2012 highlight a fascination given by the passing of the years, which seems to have increased with them even with some elements that give the impression to diverge and have taken their own course, but that for some perverse reason we seem to like it at the point of not being able to exclude it anymore, like the rural scents of an aged baicha, the almost ferrous note of some shoumei or the lips of Dolly Parton.
    The wet leaves bring back memories of ancient flowers, raisins, cider-fermented apple and candied fruit. During the infusion, perfumes of chestnut cake, woody hints of apricot and lotus root emerge, floral echoes arrive with hints of rose during the session. The liqueur is orange, the sip is ethereal, juicy, thick and refreshing. Aromas of distilled pear, magnolia and wild strawberries follow each other harmoniously. On the palate blows of jujube and citrus scents accompany an interminable finish.