Verdant Tea

  • Sign In
Menu
Toggle Nav
My Cart 0
Search
• NOW ARRIVING: the first 2024 Spring Dragonwell green teas! >> 🌱 Get started for as little as $5 - check out tea samplers at a special discount! 🌟 Free Tea Sample in Every order! | Free shipping for orders $45+ 📦 • New arrival: tea tools, clever storage + more to complete your tea set ✨

2023 Old Tree Wuyi Gongfu Black

2023 Old Tree Wuyi Gongfu Black

banner
Wild Arbor Black Tea
+ Old-School Craft
Picked from 100+ year old tea trees growing without intervention for a wild, deep, complex tea that picks up mineral and herbaceous intensity from its environment. Notes of prickly pear, brown sugar and ginseng.
Spring 2023 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
Wild Arbor Black Tea
+ Old-School Craft
Picked from 100+ year old tea trees growing without intervention for a wild, deep, complex tea that picks up mineral and herbaceous intensity from its environment. Notes of prickly pear, brown sugar and ginseng.
Spring 2023 ♦ Wuyishan, Fujian
Loading...

Crafted By the Li Family

Hand-picked and traditionally hand-finished within the true Wuyishan Ecological Preserve on forested biodiverse, rocky, mountainous land for distinct Wuyi minerality.
 
The Li Family is an award-winning, highly respected force for sustainability, hand-firing craft, rare varietal preservation, and tea education in Wuyishan.
    • DATE OF PICKINGSpring 2023
    • Wuyishan Ecological PreserveWuyishan, Fujian
    • ELEVATION600 METERS
    • XINGCUN XIAOZHONGTea Varietal

    The unique flavors of Old Tree Wuyi Gongfu Black comes in part from mosses and competing vegetation that grow naturally on and around the old and untended wild bushes in Tongmu. That mossy, woody complexity is something younger cultivated bushes can’t quite capture. This tea is wild-picked from tea growing untended in Longchuan Gorge above the Li Family's workshop, including bushes around 80-100 years old. This tea allows us to study terroir and better understand what makes Wuyi so special.

  • true
    65
    prickly pear, lime
    true
    60
    hibiscus
    true
    70
    brown sugar
    true
    100
    ginseng, sandalwood
    true
    crisp, deeply complex

    Tasting Profile

    • fruit - prickly pear, lime
    • floral - hibiscus
    • savory - brown sugar
    • spice - ginseng, sandalwood
    • texture - crisp, deeply complex

the Li Family also recommends:

  1. Hua Xiang Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong
    Hua Xiang Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong
    While Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong is usually smoked, the same leaf material and finishing technique can be used without the final smoking step. Hua Xiang means floral fragrance, referring to the natural but subtle floral notes in Xingcun Xiaozhong varietal that are brought out through the Li Family’s expert hand-processing. When smaller leaf material mixed with delicate buds is used, rich vanilla undertones can develop, accenting the savory nutty flavors. The main difference between this tea and a classic Wuyi Gongfu Black is that Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong is not necessarily curled and twisted as thoroughly, giving it a more open structure suitable for incorporating that smaller bud and leaf mixture that wouldn’t work in the tight twists of Wuyi Gongfu Black, but both are very traditional calls back to the very earliest black teas in the world.
  2. Aged Old Tree Wuyi Gongfu Black
    Aged Old Tree Wuyi Gongfu Black

    Under careful airtight conditions, Wuyi teas that are particularly rich and packed with minerality can age into deeper, more complex teas. Li Xiangxi’s personal favorite is to use her old tree Wuyi Gongfu Black, picked from trees approaching one hundred years of age. The Old Tree Wuyi Black gains more foresty notes and deep cooling qualities on the palette that make it thrilling to sip. This is not a yearly release- this is a special must-try one-off from Li Xiangxi. Li Xiangxi has been aging this Old Tree Wuyi Black tea since 2015, and she kindly shared more than half of what is left of her personal reserve.
  3. 2023 Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong
    2023 Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong
    The earliest Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, (or Lapsang Souchong as it is commonly referred to in the West) was never deep-smoked. The smokiness was a natural and subtle addition that came from drying the leaves in a wok heated by pine wood. The smoke from the pine wood naturally mixed with the tea, creating a deeper and more foresty flavor that accentuated the tea's minerality. The Li Family preserves this old-school aesthetic with careful application of smoke from local resinous pine. The sweet, roasted quality of the smoke processing blends with the rich flavor of the tea to yield a dark fruity flavor, and bring front and center the mineral texture of the soil of Wuyi.

  • 'Brewing up Old Tree Wuyi Gongu Black, we get tons of piney, woody smokey aroma, an astoundingly powerful aroma considering that this tea is not smoked. By the first infusion, much of the smoke has dissipated leaving that mossy, woody edge that defines this tea.'

  • 4
    6
    208
    15 seconds
    10
    5
    5
    195
    5 seconds
    3
    4
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    4 g.6
    oz.    use 208° watersteep 15 secondsresteep many times
    add 10 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    5 g.5 ozuse 195° watersteep 5 seconds
    add 3 sec. per steeping    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

    4 g.12
    oz.    use room temp. waterrefrigerate overnight
    8 hours    add ice & enjoy

Product Photo Gallery

Copyright © 2013-present Magento, Inc. All rights reserved.