This large-leaf green tea called Shan, from the same cooperative as Lao Cai Shan Green Tea , has been hand-blown in the purest tradition with freshly harvested jasmine buds then removed so as not to add bitterness.
I discovered this atypical jasmine green tea during my first trip to Vietnam in 2013, then working for an NGO on the promotion of these ancestral and rustic tea plants with large leaves growing in several provinces of Northern Vietnam including Lao Cai. I particularly appreciated the combination of this green tea called Shan or Shan Tuyet with woody vegetal notes with a slight astringency and the floral, almost animal side of jasmine. The combination of the two results in a flowery tea with character, very different from other jasmine teas in my range such as Jasmin Blanc or Torsades de Jasmin.
