Shan Tuyet
Green tea from ancient large-leaf trees in the far north of Vietnam, some of them centuries old and growing wild on mountainsides. The buds are covered in thick white down, which is what the name refers to.
Character
Thick and wild-tasting with an assertive bitterness that resolves into sweetness, closer to Yunnan material than to anything else.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Vegetal, Smoky
- Aroma
- Honeyed
- Mouthfeel
- Full bodied, Complex, Astringent
- Complexity
- Layered
- Notes
- honey, wild herbs, smoke, melon
- Aftertaste
- Bitter first, then a strong sweet return.
Bold intensity: full-bodied, astringent or bitter enough to lead the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Vietnam
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Kill-green (fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying
History
Ancient tea trees in northern Vietnam were harvested by highland communities long before commercial cultivation reached the country. The material is botanically continuous with Yunnan’s and the border is more recent than the trees.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Yunnan green tea
Two large-leaf greens from adjacent highlands, both bitter up front with a strong returning sweetness.
- Vietnamese green tea
Ordinary Vietnamese plantation green tea and tea from ancient wild highland trees. The second is a genuinely different product and the names are used loosely.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Bulang sheng pu-erh
Shares 5 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: vegetal, smoky, astringent, full bodied and complex.
- Lao Ban Zhang sheng pu-erh
Shares 5 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: vegetal, sweet, smoky, full bodied and complex.
- Nannuo sheng pu-erh
Shares 5 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: sweet, vegetal, full bodied, complex and honeyed.
- Sheng dragon ball
Shares 5 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: sweet, vegetal, full bodied, complex and honeyed.
- Sheng maocha
Shares 5 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: vegetal, smoky, sweet, full bodied and complex.
- Bingdao sheng pu-erh
Shares 4 descriptors with Shan Tuyet: sweet, full bodied, complex and honeyed.