Uva Green, in the Gongfu Spirit

Green tea made in a gongfu manner in Uva, Sri Lanka

Uva is traditionally a finest tea region in Sri Lanka, although not the oldest. This article reviews a green tea hand-processed in the grand tradition of fine tea processing, with a twist by the producer to adapt to their conditions. We therefore honour it with the term gongfu, meaning a lot of dedication in manual skills and labour.

sri lanka’s impressive slow withered green tea

Because of my previous disappointing experiences with green teas from various South Asian regions, I did not expect much when I received the green tea sample from Beverly, the Scottish lady working in a small organic farm in Sri Lanka, who produced the Uva hand-rolled black tea that I reviewed earlier.

hand-rolled (hand-curled)

The humble forming of the leaves tells me one thing though, they are also quite tightly hand-curled (in most other traders’ term, hand-rolled). In order for that to happen in green tea, the green leaves must have been withered quite thoroughly so they are soft enough for the process. Otherwise, the cellular structure simply breaks and the juices exposed and oxidized to be come a badly made black tea. The Chinese shorten much of the withering time by hand-rolling in a hot pan (the wok), so that the cellular tissues are much softened. At the same time, the plant enzymes are transformed by the heat to reduce oxidation. (read more about hand-roasting green tea) However, doing that with the hands on the scorching wok requires many years of training and practice which I don’t think the little Uva farm can provide their workers with.

This intrigued me. Rather than putting the sample in the line of the other incoming samples, I had it arranged for the next tasting session, having read from Beverly’s short note: withering time: 18~20 hours.

seductive aroma

This line suspended in my mind for a few days until I sniffed for the first time the aroma of this wonderful tea from the lid of my tasting mug. The florally sweet aroma is more like that from an oolong rather than from a green tea. This explained it all, the ultra long withering has already triggered very slow partial oxidation, much like that in a white tea, but not to that extent. Further curling in the pan, since they are not as skilled as their counterparts in China for the curling skills, must have involved intermediate steps of heating and cooling before they could get their hands on the leaves. This gives time for further slight oxidation.

partial white tea, partial oolong, but really a green tea

So by extending the timing in individual steps of an otherwise standard roasted green tea production, this small farm in Ambadandegama above the scenic Ravana Ella Waterfall has produced a very unique green tea that possesses some partial oolong characters.

The tough plant tissues of their leaves and the relatively low temperature after sunset in the farm because of their location are some of the factors that allow this to happen. What impressed me the most was the richness and complexity in the taste and aroma. The unique “Uva-ness” of the tea plant is equally important as the care and patience of the people who produced it. It is the best green tea I have ever tasted outside of the best ones in China. To be fair, it is actually the fullest body in a green tea, but since its birth is somehow a cheat, I have difficulty in deciding whether to rank it as a green tea or as an oolong.

Infusion colour comparison between a green tea made with (left to right) a wulong leaf, a fresh Paochong oolong, and Gongfu Green Uva

taste profile

Regardless of its categorization, I’ll trade any other green tea for it. Well, maybe not the best ones, such as Longjing. Anyway, its sweet, spicy aroma in an overtone of honey with accents of berries and peach impacts you immediately with its unique presence. The infusion is velvety with distinctive fruity and caramel sweetness. As a Uva, it does not fail to be sharp with lively high notes of bitter bites and minty hints. Hence it easily gets very bitter on longer steeping or too much leaves. The aftertaste is sweet on the lips with cooling sensation between the teeth.

A later lot that I received and that Beverly said was plucked in May lose out a bit on the fullness and roundness in the body but faired even better in the aroma. This is typical of later plucks in oolong production. As in both green tea and oolongs, the first flush almost always gives the best in body.

Compare the infused leaves of Gongfu Green Uva with a Wenshan Paochong ( an oolong tea ), and a green ea made from a wulong cultivar. Notice the more oxidised leaves of the Uva tea. This explains a lot about the fuller taste profile it has against most green teas

Beverly steeps this at 70°C for two minutes. I recommend 85~90°C (depends on how much bitterness you want to have in the infusion for enough backbone of the taste) for three minutes. The interesting thing about it is that the denser the infusion gets, the more satisfying the silkiness and the sweetness after the bitterness sensation. This tea also excels in the gaiwan using higher temperature but shorter time. Treat it as a Wuyi or Phoenix oolong first and fine tune your parameters on experimentations.

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