Gamma Ray Mini Bing (紫芽紅小餅, Zǐ Yá Hóng Xiǎo Bǐng, "Purple Bud Red Small Bing") - For many years one of our most beloved and classic teas has been Ultra Violet, the sun-dried red tea produced from the purple-leaf Zi Juan varietal of Yunnan tea plants. Widely regarded as one of the best "party teas," it has a strong somatic energy that makes people want to dance and socialize. Gamma Ray can be thought of as a powered-up version of Ultra Violet - both are Nannuo mountain sun-dried red teas, but whereas Ultra Violet is made from the cloned Zi Juan plants, Gamma Ray is made from the seed-propagated mutant purple Zi Ya plants that are used to make Wild Purple. While not being as purple in color, the Zi Ya plants are much more potent energetically. The combination of warm red energy from the oxidation and the intense electric Qi of these "Wild Purple" plants has given this tea the nickname "Carnival Ride Tea" at the West China Tea House. Not for the faint of heart, the sweet, earthy, fruity red liquor belies a rush of body-centered Qi that can be overwhelming to sensitive individuals. For anyone who has struggled to feel the "Qi" of tea before, a session of Gamma Ray might just do the trick. We named this tea Gamma Ray because of its relationship to Ultra Violet - Gamma Rays are a higher-frequency waveform than Ultraviolet light on the electromagnetic spectrum.
This mini bing includes 100g of pressed tea. The base color of the wrapper is red, indicating that it is a Red Tea. The ring and bat are indigo, indicating that this tea is made from Zǐ Yá 紫芽 ("Purple Bud") leaves.
2 Reviews
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Great taste, fantastic chi.
This tea has very quickly become one of my favorites. The fragrance is wonderful with floral, earthy, and some mild fruity scents coming out when heated and explodes with fragrance after being washed. The first infusion is lighter in taste, with some deeper red tea notes in the after taste and retains alot of that fragrance. As the leaves open up that fragrance hands off to the taste and it really comes into its own by infusions two and three which if you are sipping alone is right around when the chi starts to really take hold. I noticed quite an intense burst of it right away(also referred to as tea drunk) that rounded out and leveled nicely as the infusions went on. At this point the taste deepened significantly and took on alot of that earthy fruity taste mentioned earlier that rounded out to a very nice red tea taste at the end. Overall great choice.
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Gamma Ray Red
I am not normally a fan of red teas but LOVE This! Sweet and fruity, none of the charcoal/smoke aroma so many reds and oolongs have which, like over-oaked wines, mask the essences of grape or leaf.
