Unusually lush, fruity, and floral fragrance with a sweet, delicate taste. hand-twisted whole leaves. golden dragon oolong is our top quality formosa tea, with a distinctive sweet, dry, peach-pit flavor and floral aroma. this tea receives more attention from its planting through leaf processing than almost any other tea on earth. bushes set aside for growing golden dragon oolong are grown in shade to slow the leaf growth and develop unique properties. unlike other fine teas, the leaves are allowed to grow longer prior to plucking, and instead of two leaves and a bud, three leaves and a bud are plucked. after infusion, one can pick out of the pot entire leaf bud sets, still intact from the moment of plucking. to make the tea, the leaves are first withered in the sun for two hours. then, several pounds of leaf are wrapped in cotton and hand-pressed, so as not to tear the leaves. the leaves are then unwrapped and allowed to wither and oxidize in shade; then all three steps are repeated multiple times. to finish the tea, the leaves are first pan-fired, graded, then finally fired in baskets over hot coals. each 2 oz tin of loose leaf tea makes about 20 cups.. (per 2oz) 17.95
