2012 Hakka Pomelo

Notes of dried cranberry, preserved meyer lemon, and sangria. Aged oolong from Taiwan・October 2012・陳年客家柚子烏龍・Unsprayed A new tea to ring in the new year! 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 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. With no small amount of side-eye, the tea maker shared the following overview of her production with us. Spring-picked qing xin cultivar is oxidized and roasted in Miaoli, just north of Taichung, then held until fall