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2023 Qianjiazhai Sun Dried Black Tea

2023 Qianjiazhai Sun Dried Black Tea

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the Cooperative’s first black tea
Based on ancient finishing techniques, this special offering is not roasted after sun-oxidation, allowing it to age and grow more complex over time. Notes of vanilla, basil, grape, and pumpkin flan.
April 2023 ♦ Mt. Ailao, Yunnan
the Cooperative’s first black tea
Based on ancient finishing techniques, this special offering is not roasted after sun-oxidation, allowing it to age and grow more complex over time. Notes of vanilla, basil, grape, and pumpkin flan.
April 2023 ♦ 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 PICKINGApril 2023
    • QianjiazhaiMt. Ailao, Yunnan
    • ELEVATION2140 m
    • Qianjiazhai AssamicaTea Varietal

    This tea is wild-foraged by the Li Family of the Dongsa Cooperative within the Mt Ailao National Forest Preserve. The silvery buds and twisting golden leaves are picked from ancient tea trees between one hundred and eight hundred years old scattered between other evergreens, and wildflowers on the rocky mountainside. This labor-intensive tea to harvest is actually allowed to sun-roast and oxidize without applying heat in a wok. Because more moisture is retained in the leaf, this black tea is a fantastic candidate for aging like traditional sheng pu’er. Only a high-elevation remote place like Qianjiazhai can count on enough sunlight in the spring for this old but rare finishing technique. The result is a tea with the sweet malt of a black tea but the staggering complexity and herbaceous undertones of a sheng pu’er. A true standout!

25g loose leaf black tea
  • true
    80
    pumpkin flan, brown sugar
    true
    65
    grape, juicy apple
    true
    75
    vanilla, tulsi blossom
    true
    75
    ginger, basil
    true
    40
    bay leaf
    true
    sweet, lingering, crisp

    Tasting Profile

    • savory - pumpkin flan, brown sugar
    • fruit - grape, juicy apple
    • floral - vanilla, tulsi blossom
    • spice - ginger, basil
    • vegetal - bay leaf
    • texture - sweet, lingering, crisp


The Dongsa Cooperative also recommends:

  1. 2023 Qianjiazhai Hand Fired Black
    2023 Qianjiazhai Hand Fired Black
    The Dongsa cooperative wild-forages the leaves for their hand-fired black tea from trees well over one hundred years old, growing on the cool high elevation slopes of the Ailao National Forest Preserve. The biodiversity and well established root stock makes for deeply nuanced and complex tea, normally reserve for pressing and aging as sheng pu’er. This experimental offering is a new project by the cooperative to hand fire over low heat in a wok for a more classic Dian Hong style. The application of heat makes this more closely related to other Yunnan Black, and indeed it shares a rich sweet potato thickness similar to our Yunnan Golden Fleece, but with Qianjiazhai’s signature tulsi complexity and touches of citrus, and florals.
  2. 2023 Qianjiazhai Sun Dried Black Dragon Pearls
    2023 Qianjiazhai Sun Dried Black Dragon Pearls

    This tea is wild-foraged by the Li Family of the Dongsa Cooperative within the Mt Ailao National Forest Preserve. The silvery buds and twisting golden leaves are picked from ancient tea trees between one hundred and eight hundred years old scattered between other evergreens, and wildflowers on the rocky mountainside. This incredibly labor-intensive tea to harvest is actually allowed to sun-roast and oxidize without applying heat in a wok. Because more moisture is retained in the leaf, this black tea is a fantastic candidate for aging like traditional sheng pu’er. Only a high-elevation remote place like Qianjiazhai can count on enough sunlight in the spring for this old but rare finishing technique. The result is a tea with the sweet malt of a black tea but the staggering complexity and herbaceous undertones of a sheng pu’er. The loose Maocha is lightly steamed and then meticulously rolled and shaped one pearl at a time by Master Zhou without the use of molds or machinery to preserve the delicate complexity of the tea.

  3. 2023 Crassicolumna Yabao Black Tea
    2023 Crassicolumna Yabao Black Tea

    The Li Family and other members of the Dongsa Cooperative sustainably forage from towering crassicolumna trees to harvest the early spring woody buds that make this new black tea. Camellia Crassicolumna (厚轴茶) is a wild near-relative of tea native to Qianjiazhai; because this plant currently a protected species. one of the cooperative's responsibilities is to protect these trees from poaching. The incredibly-sweet. flavor-packed buds are traditionally piled and allowed to oxidize fully in the Mt. Ailao sun without heat treatment, locking in the natural flavor and aroma of the region. Crassicolumna is naturally caffeine-free and rich in antioxidants.

  • 'However much moisture the tea wants to release, that is how much evaporates…. If you roast it at high temperatures, you are changing what it wants. The tea wants to hold on to a little moisture, but the [high] heat forces it out...'

  • 5
    6-8
    212
    20 seconds
    10
    5
    6
    212
    10 seconds
    2
    5
    12
    room temp
    8 hours

    Steeping Instructions

    Western

    5 g.6-8
    oz.
    use 212° watersteep 20 secondsresteep many times
    add 10 sec. each infusion

    Gongfu

    5 g.6 ozuse 212° watersteep 10 seconds
    add 2 sec. per steeping
    enjoy many steepings

    Iced/Cold

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

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