The Finest 2026 Mengding Ganlu Green Tea

Description

One of the most famous teas originating from Sichuan, the history of Ganlu (甘露, or “sweet dew”) green tea goes back over 2000 years. As expected from the name, this tea has a sugary and sweet aftertaste, but also a chestnut flavour that comes out as a result of multiple rounds of careful pan frying, followed by a gentle kneading process, which gives it a characteristically curly shape. The tip-heavy picking grade also gives it a bright, fragrant and fresh flavour.

Produced by a small, local family of farmers, this tea uses the Sichuan old varietal (老川茶群体种) grown at a relatively high altitude of 800m in the core production area, which has even been known to be home to some wild pandas. The tea is fully hand fried and processed.

Although this tea doesn’t fall into the “budget” category as easily as some, compared to more exclusive and high end teas (like our pre-ming Longjing), Ganlu offers a bolder experience in terms of flavour at a good value.

We recommend brewing this tea with 85-90c water (boiling water will even perform well too) in a glass gongdaobei/pitcher and using a smaller amount of tea than you would for gongfu brewing. Something around 1 gram to 30ml of water should be good, but feel free to adjust this depending on taste. Brew the first infusion for around 1 minute, then keep topping up the pitcher as you please. Should you want to brew gongfu style, we still recommend keeping the water temperature low and using glassware if possible.

$0.81-1.00/gram
Picking Period: est March 15-22, 2026
Region: Mengding, Sichuan