First Pluck Sweet Dew
Green Tea 2026
The very earliest harvest of Ganlu (Sweet Dew), the vanguard of the first spring tea of the year. Possessing the chestnut and floral aromas you’d expect in this Sichuan classic, but with featherweight body, softly-layered mineral flavors, and melon-like sweetness that hangs in the empty cup.
One of the first two teas of 2026’s Spring harvest, along with Cui Zhu (Green Bamboo).
$28.00
- Tea Origin
- Shuangfu Town, Leshan City, E'mei Mountain, Sichuan Province, China
- Tea Bush
- Wen Chun
- Tea Maker
- Luo Ping
- Harvest Time
- February 2nd, 2026
- Plucking Standard
- One bud, one leaf
Ganlu (Sweet Dew) is the oldest famous tea in China and has been selected as a tribute tea since 742 BC in the Tang Dynasty. A slightly later harvest of this tea is part of our regular catalog.
This earliest of the early spring teas comes from the E’mei Mountain area, just to the southwest of Mengding Mountain. It was made from the Wen Chun tea bush, an early-flushing cultivar widely planted in tea gardens of Shuangfu Township, in Leshan.
Sweet Dew is plucked as one bud and one leaf. In contrast to all-bud teas, this later harvest allows its leaves to be less stiff and more workable. These tender pluckings are withered and then de-enzymed by with heat to preserve their green freshness.
This particular batch was with a combination of hand-plucking and hand-processing and mechanical kneading and shaping. Twisting the leaves a few times while rolling them develops Ganlu’s signature curly shape and white fluff, as well as its floral-chestnutty aroma, fresh taste, and sweet finish.
