This is a top quality green tea, and its name explains why: it is made from the first shoots of small-leaf green tea in early spring, picked each year after a winter when the weather has just warmed up, before the tea farmers have fertilised it, after the first spring rains. Yes, in Sichuan it is about 10 to 15 days after February 15.
It is named because it is all made of tea buds, with neat, thick and short leaves, like the tongue of a birds.
I am an ardent fan of it and it is the princess I only see once a year.
Its flavour is very pure and fresh, and it is extremely expensive. This is because of its high geographical requirements: not in warm, humid places, as there is no cold winter to avoid pests and the tea tree's winter buds; not in particularly cold places, as spring would be very late; and not in drier places, as the tea tree will not bud in a dry climate in early spring.
The best Bird's Tongue currently comes from Ya'an, Sichuan. It has several criteria: the buds are short and thick, proving that they are early spring buds, the back of the buds require slender hairs, proving its extreme freshness, the tea broth should be tender green and yellow, and the fla