2026 | ELEPHANT IN THE TEA ROOM, Guizhou Green Tea

2026 Guizhou Green Tea The Elephant lands on Friday May 10 at our tea bar! Imagine a tea origin that nobody has heard about, yet somehow produces more tea than all of Japan. Guizhou is world-famous as the origin of ‘Maotai’, one of China’s most treasured distilled spirits; it sells for hundreds of dollars (thousands, for older vintages) in liquor stores worldwide. Yet Guizhou is barely recognized beyond China’s borders for another treasure: tea! Located at the edge of the Tibetan plateau, bordering some of China’s most famous tea origins (Yunnan, Sichuan, and Hunan), Guizhou’s mineral-rich soils produce some stunning tea. Credit to our good friend Mimi Chiu (a Hongkonger who spent many of her school years in Vancouver) for introducing us to Guizhou teas. Experience: notes of freshly chopped celery, key lime and water chestnut; lingering 'green' mouthfeel. The tea is harvested only once per year, before Qing Ming. The tea artisans learned their skills from Anhui tea makers, so the technique resembles that of Mao Feng; however, the cultivar (Xiao Ye Fuding | 小叶福鼎) is imported from Fujian. Cool fact: since Mimi came to Vancouver four years ago and gifted some of this tea to Geoff, the tea became one of his Dad's go to favourites. TYPE Green Tea ORIGIN Chashou Mountain, Fengang, Guizhou, China 28.0° N, 107.5° E HARVEST Pre Qing Ming, 2026 TASTING NOTES celery, key lime, water chestnut Brewing Guide WATER 80℃ | 110 ml TEA 3g TIME 60 seconds | ~ 6 steeps Tea Origin: Guizhou (The Elephant in the Tea Room) If you've never placed Guizhou on a map, you're in good company The province sits in China's southwest highlands, tucked between 24° and 29°N latitude, roughly the same belt as Cuba or northern India. Its neighbours are the tea royalty of the Chinese world: Yunnan to the west, Sichuan to the north, Hunan to the east. The province sits on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau at an average elevation of about 1,100 metres, with mountains and hills making up over 90% of its land. And then there is the karst. When Mimi Chiu first shared Guizhou tea with us, she said it was loaded with Zinc Selenium; we were not too sure how to feel about that, so research ensued. It turns out: 62% of the province is karst terrain (eroded limestone plateau fractured into towers, sinkholes, caves, and underground rivers). The rock weathers slowly, releasing minerals into already-acidic soils at a pace that rewards patience. When you taste a quiet mineral edge in a Guizhou green, you're tasting limestone.¹ And fortunately, it's good stuff. Guizhou has been making tea for a long time. Lu Yu's Classic of Tea (8th century) records tea from ancient prefectures associated with present-day Guizhou.⁶ More than twenty Guizhou teas were designated tribute teas during the Ming and Qing dynasties.⁶ References: 贵州省档案局（省档案馆、省地方志办）. 2021. "自然地理." 贵州省人民政府门户网站. https://www.guizhou.gov.cn 贵州省气象局. 2024. "贵州省2023年气候评价." 中国气象局 / 贵州省气象局. http://www.weather.com.cn/guizhou/ 贵州省民政厅；都匀市民政局. 2025. "贵州地名之邀您'品春茶'——毛尖镇：中国十大名茶'都匀毛尖'主产区." 贵州省民政厅. https://mzt.guizhou.gov.cn 李渝；刘彦伶；黄兴成；张雅蓉；周国兰；周富裕；蒋太明. 2018. "贵州不同茶区土壤养分及微生物量分析评价." 《灌溉排水学报》. https://doi.org/10.13522/j.cnki.ggps.2018.0088 Jia Wei; Haiyun Zhou; Qiao Liu; Lin Bai; Minjie Han; Gendi Liu; Shuyan Pei; Fumei Zhang; Xiaojing Tian; Guoheng Zhang. 2025. "Distribution and Enrichment Regularity of Trace Elements in Meitan Cuiya Tea and Soil." Toxics 13, no. 9: 741. MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13090741 张云开. 2023. "贵州贡茶的悠远记忆." 贵州省人大常委会网站 / 贵州日报天眼新闻. https://www.gzrd.gov.cn 周继厚. 2022. "黔茶鼻祖——湄潭茶叶试验场." 《贵州政协报》 / 贵州省政协门户网站. https://www.gzzx.gov.cn