Tea: Ruby White

Grower: Alfredo Lin

Teamaker: Alfredo Lin

Origin: Mingjian - Nantou, Taiwan

Elevation: 300m (980ft)

Cultivation: Natural (Organic, but no certification)

Harvest Date: April 2019 (Spring)

• • •

Complex and well-balanced. Notes of sarsaparilla, camphor, and menthol.

Light, well-rounded texture with long-lasting, cool menthol aftertaste.

• • •

The Tea

Ruby White is an innovative tea to Taiwan. Although the cultivar Ruby 18 is not new to Taiwan, it is typically processed into a black tea. Tea grower Alfredo Lin has noticed many changes in the climate where he grows his tea in Nantou County. He continues to process much of his harvest of 18 Ruby into black tea, he does experiment with new processing to see how the quality adjusts to the changes.

Alfredo learned to craft black tea from Ruby #18 from Master Aones, the Taiwanese teamaster who first perfected and popularized the tea. Like many Taiwanese teamakers, Alfredo's background is in oolong tea. He quickly became an award-winning black tea specialist under the tutelage of Master Aones.

As an independent tea producer now, Lin has innovated on the techniques that he has learned from the master to make this new tea. It is a light and refreshing counterpart to the brisk black form of Ruby 18.

Alfredo harvests the tea from his own all-natural tea garden. This tea garden was once depleted by chemical use, and the soils were very poor; as a result, the tea plants were not very healthy. Alfredo has revived the tea field by reintroducing native micro-organisms to the soil, and by using organic fertilizers. It has become his passion to convert conventional tea fields into healthy, biodiverse gardens.

In Alfredo's garden, the tea plants have a distinct pink-yellow hue in the young shoots. This reflects a particularly high thearubigin content in the leaves, thanks to the incredibly healthy soil and environment.

The Ruby #18 style is named after the No. 18 cultivar, Hong Yu "Red Jade", which was developed by Taiwan's Tea Research Extension Station (TRES) for black tea production. The cultivar is a cross between a large-leaf Assam cultivar, and the native Taiwan wild mountain tea tree. Cultivar No. 18 produces a distinct herbaceous, bright fruit and menthol profile, and exhibits high thearubigin content when cultivated correctly.

• • •

Recommended Brewing Instructions:

Use 2tsp (~4g) per 250ml cup. Brew for 2 minutes.

- 180F for a smoother, lighter profile with menthal notes.

- 205F for a bolder, fuller profile with stronger malt and sweet citrus notes.

This tea can be rebrewed up to 5 times, with hotter water and longer infusions.