Tibetan Hei Cha Ya Xi (Fine Bud) Grade
One of the highest grade Tibetan tea. In traditional Tibetan society, it was exclusively for royal families, Lamas and affluent merchants. The tea leaves are from all natural environment of above 1000m (3000 ft.) elevation. The tea is processed with tedious, traditional procedure of more than 32 steps, and wrapped in hand-woven bamboo encasing.
Brewing method: either with Gongfu method as for Shu puerh or with western method as for CTC black tea, but start with smaller amount of leaves, as the flavor of this tea is very strong. When using Gongfu method, start with 0.5g leaves in every 1 oz. of water, and 10-15 seconds for each of the initial infusions. When using a larger teapot, start with 0.5g leaves in every 4 oz. of water, and 1 minute for each infusion.
To drink this tea like a Tibetan, you can:
1. Make the tea slightly darker, and mix it with whole milk with 1:1 ratio (or adjust it to your taste), with or without sugar (or salt, if you wish).
OR
2. Collect brewed tea liquor in a thermos and drink it the second day or after several hours.
* Traditional Tibetan diet is heavy on red meat and dairy. Tibetan tea is good at removing grease from one's digestive system. However, to some people, especially those on low fat diet, this tea may appear stronger than usual. Either mixing the tea with milk or brewing it less condense would make it milder. On the other hand, this tea, when taken after a heavy meal, facilitates digestion very well.Â