Sui Ying Xiao Cha

[bagua7]

Sui Ying Xiao Cha

by bagua7 » Mar 16th, '12, 06:54

What kind of tea is this? Never heard of this one before.

I took a pic of a small tin put on display in a local tea shop which unfortunately was closed when I saw it, otherwise I would have asked the staff myself.

Here's a pic:



Sorry about the poor image quality.

Cheers.

[gingkoseto]

Re: Sui Ying Xiao Cha

by gingkoseto » Mar 16th, '12, 11:53

It's a specific type of Fujian black (red) tea from Zhenghe (which is also the hometown of White Peony and Silver Needle white tea). Usually tea books would mention Zhenghe gongfu as a type of Fujian black tea. But unless it's a book about red tea only, usually the book wouldn't go into as much detail as Suiying, which is a high elevation village in the county of Zhenghe that produces good red tea. Zhenghe gongfu is most known for its "big leaf cultivar", which is the same cultivar used for white tea. This "xiao cha" (small leaf cultivar) is less seen in market today but used to be significant in history.

[bagua7]

Re: Sui Ying Xiao Cha

by bagua7 » Mar 16th, '12, 23:58

Thanks so much for your very informative answer.

Have you or anyone else in this forum tried this tea before? I'm curious about what the taste is like.

[gingkoseto]

Re: Sui Ying Xiao Cha

by gingkoseto » Mar 17th, '12, 12:50

You are welcome
I've never had this tea. It's very uncommon in the market. Probably you can be the first one to taste it It's the "father" of Keemun black tea, as it's the cultivar that was introduced to Keemun in late 19th century to make the first generation Keemun black tea. So supposedly there should be some similarity between these two black teas.