Description
Harvest time: April/September 2022
Origin: Ming Feng Shan, Linchang Region, China
Garden height: 2050-2100 m
Cultivar: Yunnan Big Leaf Tea Old Tree
Picking Method: Manual
For this tea, high-quality Pu-erh tea trees 150-400 years old were used and pressed into a classic cake shape.
Gong Ting stands for the quality and grade of tea, which consists only of buds and tips hand-selected at the end of the entire production. The rest consists of glued lumps, larger leaves, breaks, etc.
There is very little real Old Tree Shu Pu-erh tea on the market. The biggest reason is that fermentation itself greatly changes the tea, so high-quality material is usually not used in the production.
If we also look at the price of tea, we will see that usually the price of Shu Pu-erh is lower than that of Sheng pu-erh despite the fact that the processing of Shu Pu-erh is much more complicated. A lot of Shu Pu-erh tea is made from materials blended from several sources, no matter how poor quality it is. Another reason is that the production of Shu Pu-erh requires a large amount in order for the fermentation to be done well. It usually takes a few tons of pure old maoha (raw materials for the shu pu-erh process) to get started, which is not at all easy to collect.
This year, our suppliers and farmers produced a batch of real Old Tree Shu Pu-erh for which they used 2.5 tons of raw material from their own garden. In order to collect a sufficient amount for good processing and fermentation, the spring and autumn harvests had to be combined. One half of the leaves are from the harvest at the end of spring, the other half was harvested at the beginning of autumn, and both harvests were of excellent quality.
This tea garden is located in Ming Feng Shan in Yongde County in southwestern Yunnan, and only tea trees that are 150-400 years old grow there. The altitude of this old tea garden is very high and reaches 2050-2100 m, which is among the highest in Yunnan. The natural cultivation of old tea trees and the very high altitude ensure a very deep, clean tea taste and plum aroma. The good taste of the raw material is also important for the good quality of the final product.
Mid-autumn is the best time of the year to prepare Shu Pu-erh, as this is the time when the air of Yunnan becomes dry which is very good for fermentation.
Fermentation in a pile is the most critical step in the processing of Shu Pu-erh and, in addition to the quality of the raw material, it also determines the quality of the final product.
It must take place at the right humidity and temperature. In this season, the air in Yunnan becomes dry, but not the driest, and the temperature is around 20°C. The driest season in the U.S.Unnan is from January to April.
Preparation – kettle:
• 1 pc
• 200-250 ml of water
• Temp. 90°C
• Overflows 4-5: (10s and pour out the water), 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min
Preparation – gaiwan:
• 1 pc
• 150 ml of water
• temp. 100°C
• Pour over 8: (10s and pour out the water), first pour 15s, extend the next for 5-10s
