Harvest Location: Yu'an District, Lu'an, Anhui
Harvest Date: 04/17/2026
Elevation: 500m
Cultivar: Dushan Small Leaf Species
Lu’an Guapian is one of Anhui’s most distinctive historic green teas and is often translated as “Melon Seed” tea for the flat, oval shape of its finished leaves.
What sets this tea apart is its material standard. Unlike nearly all other Chinese green teas, Guapian is made without buds and without stems. Only the mature leaf is used—typically the second leaf from the spring shoot. During processing, workers meticulously remove the bud, petiole, and central vein, leaving behind a clean leaf blade. This labor-intensive step is essential to the tea’s famously smooth texture and refined taste.
The leaves are then slowly pan-fired at low temperature, softening and shaping them into their characteristic seed-like form while preserving a vivid green color. To finish, the tea is basket-baked over charcoal, a traditional drying method that adds depth and a faint toasted warmth without smokiness.
The result is a green tea prized for its bright clarity, gentle sweetness, and soft, rounded mouthfeel—a style defined not by tenderness of bud, but by the careful transformation of the mature spring leaf.
2026 Lu'an Guapian
Water Temperature: 180°F
Amount: 3g per 150ml
Steeping Time: 1m/1m/1.5m/2.5m
# of Infusions: 3-4 infusionsInstructions
- Warm the Vessels
- Fill your fairness pitcher or glass with 180°F water to warm it.
- Pour this water into your tasting cups to warm them too.
- Discard the water from both.
- Add the Tea
- Place 3 grams of green tea into the warm fairness pitcher or glass.
- Inhale the aroma of the warmed, dry leaves — this step helps engage your senses.
- First Infusion
- Fill the pitcher with 180°F water (150 mL).
- Steep for 1 minute.
- Pour the tea into a second fairness pitcher or glass, but do not pour all of it out; leave just enough liquid to barely cover the leaves.
- Pour the brew into the tasting cups,
- Sip, savor, and take tasting notes.
- Second Infusion
- Refill with 180°F water, steep again for 1 minute.
- Pour, taste, and note any evolving flavors.
- Third Infusion
- Steep with fresh hot water for 1.5 minutes this time.
- Pour, taste, and compare it to earlier steeps.
- Optional Fourth Infusion
- You can go for a 4th steep at 2–3 minutes, depending on how much flavor remains in the leaves.
- This steep may reveal subtle vegetal or mineral notes.
- Reflect & Compare
- Review your tasting notes across infusions.
- Notice how the tea evolves — body, aroma, texture, finish.
- Warm the Vessels
