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2014 Gong Ting Shu Cake

2014 Gong Ting Shu Cake

CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK
(100g / 3.53oz)
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Wild tender bud shu pu’er,
stone-pressed in cakes
The Dongsa Cooperative carefully times their wild-foraging to capture tiny buds from ancient tea trees for a special Gong Ting pu’er unlike any other. Notes of semolina, tatami, spearmint and juniper.
March, 2014 ♦ Mt. Ailao, Yunnan
Wild tender bud shu pu’er,
stone-pressed in cakes
The Dongsa Cooperative carefully times their wild-foraging to capture tiny buds from ancient tea trees for a special Gong Ting pu’er unlike any other. Notes of semolina, tatami, spearmint and juniper.
March, 2014 ♦ Mt. Ailao, 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 PICKINGMarch 2014
    • Qianjiazhai Mt. Ailao
    • ELEVATION1900
    • V. AssamicaTea Varietal

    Master Zhou and his students in the Qianjiazhai Dongsa Cooperative hand-carved a 100g cake stone mold for their collaboration with Verdant and selected a beautiful 2014 looseleaf Gong Ting harvest to hand-press. This Gong Ting cake is made from only small buds picked from trees around one hundred years of age in the early spring before Qingming festival. This tea was allowed to age loose for two years, giving it a sweet and extremely clean profile. The bud material yields a thick rich mouthfeel.

  • true
    65
    spearmint
    true
    45
    semolina bread
    true
    45
    juniper

    Tasting Profile

    • floral - spearmint
    • spice - semolina bread
    • fruit - juniper

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. 2014 Qianjiazhai Yi Ji Shu Pu'er
    2014 Qianjiazhai Yi Ji Shu Pu'er
    Master Zhou works with his students in the Qianjiazhai Dongsa Cooperative to start introducing shu pu’er fermentation and crafting techniques more widely across the mountain. This stunningly clean, rich and foresty example is crafted from pre-Qingming harvest maocha picked from one hundred to five hundred year trees. Even with only three years of aging, it displays the clean rich complexity normally only seen on shu pu’er a decade old or older.
  3. Gong Ting Shu Dragon Pearls
    Gong Ting Shu Dragon Pearls

    The Cooperative's first-ever shu pu’er dragon pearl pressing, this tea is made with beautiful little 2014 buds, allowed to ferment slowly under natural moisture conditions for a sweet and clean flavor profile that shows off the herbaceous side of Qianjaizhai. The loosely pressed. dragon pearls are compact enough for long-term aging and small enough to allow for single brew sessions without having to break apart a bigger cake of tea. The loose hand-twisted compression allows for better and more even aging than anything a machine could achieve.

  • 'This Spring, we were lucky to return to Qianjiazhai to meet more of the talented people behind Qianjiazhai’s old tree pu’er and black tea. Through the cooperative, these families and individuals can work together the share resources and knowledge, teaching and learning from each other while protecting and acting as stewards over tea trees in the oldest tea forest in the world'

  • 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

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