2003 Aged Hakka Pomelo

Notes of dried cherry, preserved meyer lemon, and classic old fashioned. Aged oolong from Taiwan・October 2003・陳年客家柚子烏龍・Unsprayed Aging tea in citrus is a tradition passed down by the Hakka people, or “guest families”, from generation to generation following the cycle of tea and citrus harvests throughout the year. The Hakka are a people of no one particular provenance, but rather a broad diaspora of families and their descendants who left their homes in the north to settle in Southern China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, bringing seeds and saplings to new soils. It is just such an enclave, on the western coast of Taiwan, that is home to our Hakka Pomelo Oolong, made by an octogenarian matriarch who, while warm and maternal, holds the secret of her craft close. This tea is produced using spring-picked qing xin cultivar that is oxidized and roasted in Miaoli, just north of Taichung, then held until fall’s pomelo bounty makes the trees bow with ripe fruit. The large citrus are harvested during t