A masterfully crafted tea made with devotion, passion and extraordinary methods, this tea has won 3rd place award in the prestigious 2016 North American Tea Championship in the green tea category! Liu An Gua Pian has a reputation as a top ten famous Chinese tea and was a tribute tea for centuries. It is named after the tea-producing region of Liu An, Anhui province, China. The dry leaves resembles the shape of sunflower seeds, thus the name "Gua Pian".  While other green teas consist of buds and young leaves, but gua pian only pick the single leaves, no buds. 

Tthis tea has an extraordinary production process unlike any other green tea. It has a bright and clean green color and a unique flavor profile due to its unique harvesting standard, firing and roasting process. What is more, Gua Pian has a very sophisticated firing process called "La Lao Huo" in Chinese, meaning hard roasting. It takes intensive labor to roast this tea in a large bamboo basket over the open charcoal fire. This process produces more complex flavor and gives the tea a much longer shelf life than normal green teas. This tea features an intense floral aroma, a rich complex flavor, a creamy texture, and a light vegetal sweet aftertaste with no astringency. It can sustain multiple steepings. 

Although machine roasting is becoming more commonplace in order to make this tea more accessible to the masses, it cannot compare to the results of traditional hand roasting that our teas were sourced. 

For more info about this tea and its production process, please read Victoria's tea sourcing trip blog here.  

Click here for brewing instructions.

Additional Info

Origin:                         Qitou mountain, Jinzai county, the core producing region of Liu An prefecture, Anhui province, China
Picking standard:        Only mature leaves
Elevation:                    800 meters
Harvest Time:              Pre-ming, April, 2022
Caffeine level:             moderate

Tasting Profile

Hint of sweet chestnut, peas, and asparagus, with a buttery sweet finish, even after several steepings.