Wild Sparrow is a wild green tea produced by Mabian tea farmer Heng Yi. Nestled in the mountains of central Sichuan province, Mabian is home to acres of wild tea plants that grow in the forest. Master Heng Yi has been producing tea from these plants for nearly 20 years, having learned about them from his paternal grandfather. Heng Yi has classified the wild tea plants of Mabian into 20 different cultivars that live in different parts of the mountains and have different attributes. Some of those cultivars are purple, and this tea is made from those.
This particular tea is the spiritual successor to a tea made by Heng Yi's mother called Esmeralda, which was likewise a green tea made from the purple Mabian tea plants. Heng Yi's mother has retired from tea production, but Heng Yi produces a flattened, early spring green tea from this same material. The flattened shape of the young leaf buds is known as "sparrow's tongue".
This tea is unique in that I (So-Han) personally transported 1.5kg of this tea back from China in my luggage, and we got about all there is of it. Hopefully we can get more of this bright, refreshing green tea in the future as it is now a house favorite.