Secret Garden - 40g Loose Leaf Green Tea

Tea Origin - Jiangxi, Mainland China.

Food Paring - Salty meat dishes, anchovy pizzas, tarte tatin.

Taste Profile - Exotic blossom plum compote and roast chestnuts.

This remote Fuliang green tea is our favourite. The leaves are steeping, and notes of sweet plum and exotic blossoms emerge. The palate is beguiling, leaving behind flavours of freshly roasted chestnuts.

In Jiangxi province's Fuliang County, the village of Whangu would be a contender if you were searching for the quintessential Chinese rural paradise. Among Whangu's rolling river valleys and wooded hills, it was formerly one of the principal porcelain-producing regions of the Tang Dynasty, but now things are much more tranquil. We came onto this lovely green tea while travelling through Fuliang. A tiny yet quality-focused group, the Whangu Tea Farmer's Cooperative brings together a plethora of local tea producing experience. Mr. He Xinsheng, the head tea master, is in charge of every step of producing this green tea.

The leaves are picked in the spring from a small, isolated garden at an elevation of around 650 metres, and are processed painstakingly by hand by the cooperative. The plum-like sweetness and deep green colour of the tea are attributed to the mineral-rich soils in which the bushes grow. around the foggy hills of the area, the best spring growth ripens around mid-April, which is when the leaves are harvested. Only premium one-bud, one-leaf sets are picked, which are gently withered, fixed (to retain their rich emerald colour), rolled into their distinctive wiry, curly shape, then baked