Verdant Tea

2022 Single Tree Sheng

2022 Single Tree Sheng

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Singular Sheng Pu’er
picked from a single tea tree
One huge, ancient tree on the Li Family’s remote mountainside was picked to produce this 2022 harvest. The rocky, biodiverse plot yields notes of rosewood, peony, persimmon, and deep sparkling minerality
April 2022 ♦ Qianjiazhai, Yunnan
Singular Sheng Pu’er
picked from a single tea tree
One huge, ancient tree on the Li Family’s remote mountainside was picked to produce this 2022 harvest. The rocky, biodiverse plot yields notes of rosewood, peony, persimmon, and deep sparkling minerality
April 2022 ♦ Qianjiazhai, Yunnan
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Crafted by the Dongsa Cooperative

True zero-intervention wild tea, foraged from ancient tea forests in one of the most remote tea growing regions in the world.
 
The Dongsa Cooperative was founded to promote responsible stewardship of these tea forests and pass on old-school pu’er hand-crafting techniques that yield incredibly complex tea.
    • DATE OF PICKINGApril 2022
    • QianjiazhaiMt. Ailao, Yunnan
    • ELEVATION2003 M
    • Qianjiazhai AssamicaTea Varietal

    Qianjiazhai is home to some of the oldest tea trees in the world. Once again, we are extremely lucky this year to be able to offer a single-tree harvest from the oldest tree on the Li Family’s high elevation plot, estimated to 1300 years based on its trunk diameter. Located at 24°16'13.6"N and 101°12'19.6"E, this single tree needs to be carefully climbed to sustainably harvest about ten kilograms of leaf per year. Growing out of a rocky mountainside, and surrounded by a biodiverse wild growth of evergreens, tulsi plants and flowers, this tree benefits from cool misty air, and mineral-rich soil. It takes three people with linked arms to circle the trunk! The deep roots and thousand plus years of fighting for survival give this tea an incredible complexity full of yun cooling sensation and aloeswood incense undertones. The Li Family works with Master Zhou to dry this tea in bamboo baskets in the sun, and hand finish the maocha for traditional stone pressing. Even within a microclimate like Qianjiazhai, each mountaintop and valley has its own unique qualities, and the cooperative selected this tree as worthwhile to finish separate from their blended cakes to show off the stunning terroir and the complexity that is possible with ancient tree stock. Set aside a few cakes for aging and the yun cooling and tingling qualities continue to develop over the years.

    We’ve been following this tree for eight years now and have been blown away with the development we see in cellaring.

    Available this year in 25g loose leaf, 100g tea cakes and 250g pressings

25g loose leaf sheng pu'er
250g Xiao Jin Gua pressing
100g mini cake pressing
  • true
    80
    rosewood, ginger
    true
    70
    peony, jasmine
    true
    60
    mango, persimmon
    true
    80
    oak, almond
    false
    true
    deep, mineral, cooling, juicy

    Tasting Profile

    • spice - rosewood, ginger
    • floral - peony, jasmine
    • fruit - mango, persimmon
    • savory - oak, almond
    • texture - deep, mineral, cooling, juicy

the Dongsa Cooperative also recommends:

  1. 2014 Shu Pu'er Nuggets
    2014 Shu Pu'er Nuggets
    This tea is a new experiment from one of Master Zhou's former students, another member of the cooperative. Qianjiazhai one hundred to three hundred year wild-picked leaves and buds are pile-fermented until they clump together in tight balls in the heat. The balls ferment and age differently than loose tea and yield a rich vanilla-heavy flavor that is impossible to steep out.
  2. 2020 Single Tree Sheng
    2020 Single Tree Sheng

    Qianjiazhai is home to some of the oldest tea trees in the world. Once again, we are extremely lucky in 2020 that we will be able to offer a single-tree harvest from the oldest tree on the Li Family’s high elevation plot, estimated to 1300 years based on its trunk diameter. Located at 24°16'13.6"N and 101°12'19.6"E, this single tree needs to be carefully climbed to sustainably harvest about ten kilograms of leaf per year. Growing out of a rocky mountainside, and surrounded by a biodiverse wild growth of evergreens, tulsi plants and flowers, this tree benefits from cool misty air, and mineral-rich soil. It takes three people with linked arms to circle the trunk! The deep roots and thousand plus years of fighting for survival give this tea an incredible complexity full of yun cooling sensation and aloeswood incense undertones. The Li Family works with Master Zhou to dry this tea in bamboo baskets in the sun, and hand finish the maocha for traditional stone pressing. Even within a microclimate like Qianjiazhai, each mountaintop and valley has its own unique qualities, and the cooperative selected this tree as worthwhile to finish separate from their blended cakes to show off the stunning terroir and the complexity that is possible with ancient tree stock. Set aside a few cakes for aging and the yun cooling and tingling qualities continue to develop over the years. We’ve been following this tree for six years now and have been blown away with the development we see in cellaring. available in 2020 year in 100g tea cakes and 250g pressings

  3. 2021 Wild Crassicolumna Sheng
    2021 Wild Crassicolumna Sheng

    This tea is sustainably wild-foraged from ancient Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) tree, a close relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai. This year's tea is available both loose and in 100g cake pressings. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants. The giant leaves and buds picked from this wild-growing tree stock are allowed to gently sun dry without any heat processing to keep the most natural flavor. Wild crassicolumna trees can be anywhere between several hundred and over a thousand years old, and are incredibly tall and difficult to climb to harvest these precious leaves, but the rich nuanced flavor and lingering aftertaste is worth the effort. Master Zhou pressed the leaf material from part of this years harvest into 100g cakes and 205g Xiao Jin Gua perfect for aging and long term storage.

  • 'This year, Master Zhou introduced us to another beautiful ancient tea tree with its own unique micro climate and distinctive flavor and aroma. The tree can be found at 24°16’13.6″N 101°12’19.6″E, at just over 2000 meters. The cooperative was kind enough to set aside the entire harvest of 2016 for us'

  • 4
    6-8
    205
    30 seconds
    15-30
    4
    6
    205
    10 seconds
    10-30
    4
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    4 g.6-8
    oz.
    use 205° watersteep 30 secondsresteep many times
    add 15-30 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    4 g.6 ozuse 205° watersteep 10 seconds
    add 10-30 sec. per steeping
    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

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