Verdant Tea

This spectacular high elevation yellow tea is made entirely from perfect buds, and scented with orchids for a deep, rich, well integrated flavor and aftertaste. Called Ta Xue Lan Fei  Yellow Tea, or snowy orchid Yellow Tea, the tiny buds are allowed to wither with fresh Xuelan varietal orchids and slowly absorb their aroma over several days. The yellow tea process requires a 'smothering' or covering of the buds for more complex oxidation after sha qing. These unique steps lock in a fresh flavor somewhere between white tea and green tea with all the textural silkiness of Silver Needle White and the minerality and crisp aftertaste of Dragonwell Green.

This spring harvest pre-Qing Ming white tea is traditionally scented and made with Da Bai varietal white tea. This white tea is not sprayed with artificial oils or aromas. Instead, it is dried together with fresh jasmine blossoms scattered among the buds, allowing the natural aroma of the jasmine to absorb over several days into the tea itself. The process of adding fresh wild Yunnan jasmine blossoms is repeated six times over six days to get a full rich and creamy infusion that holds its intense sweetness and natural potency over many steepings. The creamy dessert-like Yunnan silver needle white tea is the perfect delicate pairing with Lincang's local luscious jasmine.

This spring harvest Yunnan black tea gets its name to honor the soft, rich textural experience of tasting this beautiful small harvest tea. Golden Fleece is hand picked from wild growth (unmanaged) Yunnan Da Bai tea bushes over forty years old. The biodiversity of the growing region and deeper roots mean a more complex flavor and aroma. Only the most perfect large tender buds are hand-harvested, and carefully hand-finished. The down from the buds infuses into every cup, yielding a uniquely thick mouthfeel. This year's harvest is full and complex with cooling cedar, and spiced nutmeg and cinnamon undertones to bolster the luxurious creamy base.

Jing Mai has become one of the most famous and sought after pu’er microclimates in Yunnan, thanks to the velvety, rich, luxurious teas that come out of Jingmai, home to some truly ancient wild tea trees. This particular cake was pressed in 2020, but Wang Yanxin remembers the leaf material as picking closer to 2014, which would explain the deep spiced rich complexity this Jingmai cake shows off with notes of ginger, sandalwood, dried currants, barley and honey. The tea for this cake was picked and cellared by Hua Cheng Jia Mu Workshop, but blended and pressed in partnership with De Hou Workshop.

This 2018 buds-only gongting pressing comes from one of Wang Yanxin’s oldest partners and favorite blenders - Yongming Workshop. She loves Yongming for the way that they highlight the flavor profiles of specific regions- in this case, Bulang Shan. This pressing has rich sweet notes of brown sugar and biscotti, with a touch of nutmeg and candied rose - like  a perfectly considered plated dessert.

Wang Yanxin has been collecting pu’er for almost twenty years, and has built her reputation around scouting out the smallest workshops doing the best work regardless of brand name. This cake from her personal cellar lacks all the trappings of a fancy label and nei fei. Indeed, Wang Yanxin has lost track of exactly what year she acquired this offering, but we are thinking around 2018 at the latest. Of course this cake is priced to reflect the lack of collector’s clarity, but having opened a few cakes to taste for ourselves, we are pretty excited about the flavor profile. This cake is all about its sweet, slightly cooling cedar forest flavor, the touch of toasty marshmallow in the aftertaste and the light clean feeling on the palate.

Wang Yanxin has been collecting pu’er for almost twenty years, and has built her reputation around scouting out the smallest workshops doing the best work regardless of brand name. This cake from her personal cellar lacks all the trappings of a fancy label and nei fei. Indeed, Wang Yanxin has lost track of exactly what year she acquired this offering, but we are thinking around 2018 at the latest. Of course this cake is priced to reflect the lack of collector’s clarity, but having opened a few cakes to taste for ourselves, we are pretty excited about the flavor profile. This is classic Nannuo Shan with that lovely sticky rice quality that we look for in great shu pu’er, plus sweet goji fruit notes and a touch of cinnamon and mint.

Banzhang tea is already nearly impossible to get ahold of thanks to the huge demand and tiny output, so we were particularly excited to see Wang Yanxin release this well-aged, stone-pressed 2013 cake from one of our favorite regions. Banzhang teas tend towards deep, multi-layered and toasty. This cake is a perfect exemplar with notes of hazelnut, granite minerality, rosewood and dried dates.

This cake from Wang Yanxin’s personal collection comes from her decades-long relationship with Yongming, one of her very favorite workshops for highlighting single-origin provenance in their pressings. This particular cake comes from high elevation Bulang Shan, a region known for deep complex teas that age into powerful spiced flavor profiles over time. This particular shu pu’er is a generous mix of buds and leaves with a focus on the classic brown sugar and elderberry profile and touch of cinnamon and vanilla.

This blended sheng pu’er from Wang Yanxin’s personal collection was chosen for its lilac florals and tropical pineapple juicy qualities, a uniquely sweet tinging sheng pu’er with deep brown sugar notes and a touch of spice already building up after only several years of aging.

This 2019 harvest was allowed to age loose for three years to kickstart deep complexity before being pressing into cakes for long term aging in 2022. Picked near Banpo Village in Nannuoshan, this single-origin cake from Yongming Workshop shows off Nannuoshan’s deep complexity with notes of chestnut, marshmallow and nutmeg, with a soft rich velvety texture. Notes from Yongming’s blender: Growing in a beautiful wild environment of Banpo Village, this is a special cake worthy of long term aging, with a deep nuanced brew and vibrant color, honeyed and aromatic on the first sip and a rich satisfying texture and pure classical aromatic profile

The smaller Wan Yuan Workshop released this sheng pu’er as part of their Ma Dui Zhang or caravan collection, commemorating the tea horse trail. This unique single origin sheng pu’er from Bingdao is incredibly packed with fruit-forward flavor. Thick wild raspberry and guava, with a touch of honey. Tulsi blossoms and licorice come through in the aftertaste, along with a ringing mineral-laden textural experience.

This 2019 harvest was allowed to age loose for three years to kickstart deep complexity before being pressing into cakes for long term aging in 2022. The Da Xue Shan Lincang provenance gives this a unique honey, basil and dried apple flavor with a very classic, sweet balanced aftertaste. Notes from Yongming’s blender: Da Xue Shan pu’er is known for its smooth rich body and wild mountain aromatics, drawn from the deep forest where the leaves are painstakingly hand-picked. Small production. Golden vibrant color, sweet and fragrant on the first sip with a strong intense, mouth-watering aftertaste.

This fully hand-made, stone-pressed sheng cake is a careful blend of Yiwu and Bingdao leaf material to achieve that cedar forest aftertaste of Yiwu with the juicy cooling tingling quality of Bingdao. The silvery buds and leaves yield rich apricot and peach notes with a touch of cinnamon and maple in the aftertaste. 

Wang Yanxin is pleased to release this special cake from small producer Jing Yu Workshop after over a decade of aging in her climate-controlled pu’er cellar. This cake is special because it is blended from old wild tree tea for incredible depth and complexity. The workshop carefully stone-pressed the leaves after gentle steaming for a cake that will only continue to get deeper over time. This tea has already built up tingling cooling textural complexity, and incense spice, while staying juicy and sweet at the same time.