This is the most mysterious varietal we have encounter so far – Huang Xin (Yellow Heart). The plantation is located at the border of Miaoli and is very small. There is actually not much management involved at this plantation because it is too small and the owner is now too old to have incentive to boost the production. The plantation was simply left at where it has been since decades ago, growing a varietal that was developed back in the Japanese era (1895~ 1945).
Like Huang Gan, this is one of the oldest varietals in Taiwan. During the research, the name of this varietal only appeared once in a document from TRES which records the area of the plantation of varietal at certain year. After further research, we noticed there were another two types of varietal which were called “Huang Xin Dah Pan” and “Huang Xin Oolong.” What confused us is that we are not sure whether the “Huang Xin” we are offering here is an independent varietal from those two, or a varietal that is one of those two “Huang Xin Dah Pan” or “Huang Xin Oolong.” However, one thing is sure, the taste of this tea is very unique.
The taste of this varietal is unlike anything we had before. It has a distinctive “candy” character which is not only pleasant, but surprising as well. We never had any flavor like this in our collection before, so it is not exaggerating to say this tea really surprised us. We will continue our research on this varietal and pay the visit again to the plantation in the future, but for now, let’s simply enjoy the joy from this “Golden Candy”.
Harvest: Summer 2018 / 夏 貳零壹捌
Varietal: Yellow Heart / 黃心
Elevation: 400 M / 肆佰 公尺
Region: Miaoli / 苗栗
Fermentation Level: 75% / 分之 柒拾伍
Roast Level: 0 / 無