Due to the pandemy we only could visited some of our favorite Rize tea farmers and producers last week and get some insight in the 2020 harvest. Honestly: we love the harvests of this year. We took some examples and quantities with us for our own usage and of course also to give you the chance to taste the latest results of hand plucked and produced teas.
Back home we tested today our CAYMER favorit, the Green Pekoe-1 and we received the last quantities of the harvest: 2/3 first flush from spring and 1/3 third flush from summer harvest. The tea is hand rolled to small balls and that makes it quite easy to get the right quantity in the cup: take 1-2 balls and you have the right quantity for 100ml (so for a full 250ml cup we would recommend 5 balls or around 5g).
Tasting the #5
1st Steeping
We were interested in the difference between the first and the summer harvest. Both have a wonderful fresh smell and in the first trial (3 ½ minutes steeping time / water: 80 degrees) the differences are minor but visible:
- the first flush is very light green, looks and tastes almost like a white tea, while
- the summer flush is slightly darker and has also a flowery taste with hints of nuts. Both teas give us a long, sweet aftertaste.
These teas are not comparable with usual, strong Turkish teas – they are quite fragile in taste but very pleasant. We would more like to compare that tea with excellent white teas from China.
2nd Steeping
We experimented with the second trial – 4 ½ minutes, slightly earthier and less fruity taste – and we mixed both harvests to see what will happen.
Green Tea 
The mixture is at the end a lovely combination of both harvests. We will leave and sell it mixed. It will be our Nr. 5 Rolled Green Tea in our webshop.
We hope you will like that 2020 green tea like we do – If you like to try it, you can get it via ChakaChuka and you have to be quick. We have only a limited quantity available and let’s see how long it will be for sale …