PROFILE: FRESH, STRAW, PEAR

ORIGIN: SUOI GIANG, YEN BAI, VIETNAM

HARVEST: APRIL 2025

Snow Princess is a new ‘young-sheng’ arrival from the Spring of 2025. A delightfully refreshing and enjoyable tea it combines green tea freshness with the sweet bounty of leisurely sun-drying. Possessing the same beautiful balance as Snow Princess versions from previous years, the 2025 offers the distinct floral, fruitiness of pears which is great on the nose but even more pronounced from the back of the throat.

Snow Princess is prepared from one bud and one leaf only. Leaves undergo a short withering after which they are put through a brief firing/ fixing period before being rolled. They are then left to sun-dry to preserve the shape and colour of the leaf. This tea is very similar in style to a raw (sheng) Pu'erh but with a Vietnamese character.  It is currently only sold as loose leaf.

Suoi Giang (literally: heavenly river) is a small commune located in the misty mountains of Yen Bai province. It nestles in an area surrounded by the ancient shaded forests, at altitudes between 1300 and 1400 metres, where wild tea trees have been grown by ethnic minority families for many hundreds of years. H'Mong families continue to harvest the leaves today either for their own consumption as fresh tea or for processing as dried leaves. Apart from tea the district is also known for sticky rice and hot springs.