Acala Tea Co.
"White Apricot Curls" Organic White Tea
"White Apricot Curls" Organic White Tea
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"White Apricot Curls" Organic White Tea is a beautiful display of curly green and dark silver leaves. This tea is picked pre-qingming, meaning before the spring harvest. The shoots are tender for a finesse to the palate and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel. The young leaves' fruity and aromatic elements impart flavor into the tea liquor. The liquor has a creamy, custard like sweetness with apricot notes.
Our Taiwanese tea producer uses the iconic Taiwanese-developed Hong Yu T-18 tea cultivar that was initially intended for black tea production. Winter 2022 was good to the tea bushes, resulting in a good quality, lush first harvest and leaves that provide a lot of sweetness in the resulting tea.
This tea has a light apricot taste when enjoyed as a warm brew. As a cold brew, the apricot flavor comes to the forefront of the flavor profile. As with most teas that are cold brewed, the fruit and flower notes are more prevalent than when brewed with warm water. See Brewing Recommendations.
Tea Specifics
Tea Specifics
Organic Pre-Qingming Red Jade T-18 Curled White Tea
Harvest: February 2023, Hand Picked
Oxydation Level: Low
Baking Level: None
Terroir: Banguashan
Administrative Region: Nantou County, Taiwan
Cultivar(s): Hong Yu, TTES No. 18
Elevation: 300m
White tea contains between 5-50mg of caffeine, depending on a few factors. A tea using just the tips/youngest leaves (like Silver Needle) will contain the most caffeine (because caffeine is a natural pesticide that protects young, vulnerable leaves). Also, caffeine levels decline over time because oxidation and light decay caffeine. Within the first three years, the caffeine levels in white tea start to drop. An aged white tea has caffeine levels that are half that of it's younger counterpart. Thus, an aged white tea that is decades old may not contain much caffeine at all.
Tasting Notes
Tasting Notes
Apricot notes, light honeydew, creamy
Brewing Recommendations
Brewing Recommendations
Serving Size: 4-6g of tea per 100ml purified water
Ideal Brewing Vessel: Porcelain or glass tea pot or gaiwan. Because the leaves need space to unfurl, we do not recommend brewing with a tea sachet.
Gong Fu Style Steeping: Boil water to 185-195F/85-91C and then wait for the water to stop bubbling before pouring the water down the inside of the brewing vessel, not directly on the leaves. Brew for 30 seconds, then replace the lid and pour the liquor into a gong dao bei (fairness pitcher) before apportioning into tea cups. Add 15 seconds for each subsequent brew. Remove the lid of the brewing vessel to allow the leaves to cool between steepings. Flash brewing in this manner ensures this tea can be brewed up to 5+ times and brewed again the following morning if left overnight.
Western Style Brewing: Steep 3g tea in a mug with a steeping basket, or tea pot with strainer, for 2 minutes. Water temperature should be 195F/91C.
Cold Brew: Place 4g of tea in an Ethoz Tea Brewer or other tea brewer. Fill with 450ml purified water and refrigerator overnight.
