Tea: Melon Seed Green (Lu'an Guapian - 六安瓜片) Type: Anhui Green Tea Harvest: Mid April 2026 Region: Lu'an, Anhui, China Producers: Wang Family Tasting Notes: Toasted Oats, Cinnamon, Nettle, Daffodil
Guapian is a type of green tea that has survived in roughly the same form since antiquity. These wok-fried leaves are large, natural, and a little ugly. Guapian has been one of China's top ten teas for hundreds of years, and the methodology behind this tea is very unique, featuring whisking the leaves with a hand-held straw broom in a wood-fired wok. This processing creates the iconic wabi-wabi leaf shape iconic to the Guapian, or Melon Slices.
As this tea consists of larger leaves, there is very little 'mingqian' guapian made in Luan. The tea is thick, rich, and delivers a powerful cup of tea without too much bitterness. This is a great tea for those who want a little force in their green tea selection, and are not afraid of some big ugly leaves.
The brew starts off very vegetal, but gets sweeter and creamier as the session progresses, and even positively floral by the final infusions.
We recommend brewing this tea in a gaiwan (2.5 grams to 100ml water with flash infusions) or in a tall glass grandpa style (3 grams to 8 oz of water with a death steep).
Still working my way through this delicious sampler but so far, so good! The tea is high quality and delicious, and the way it's packaged makes for an excellent gift.
This is an amazing aged white tea, exactly what my stomach and mind needed. I love the soothing effect in the mornings. I also love the aroma of old books, dates, and vanilla any time of day. Beautiful artwork and a dark horse for my favorite tea of the year.
