Verdant Tea

This masterful blend from Shun Chang Hao workshop embodies their He Xie Run label. He Xie Run roughly translated to “harmonious bounty,” a fitting name for a cake that perfectly balances notes of ginger molasses cake, sticky rice, blackberry and chrysanthemum for a stunning and contemplative profile. Fifteen years of aging give this cake a sparkling, clean expansive texture and aftertaste.

This special buds-only blend from the small Gu Yun Workshop is already over a decade old, showing off deep complexity from slow careful aging. Picked exclusively from the giant buds of old tea trees, this pu’er has notes of nutmeg, vanilla, birthday cake and blood orange with a sweet, smooth juicy texture and aftertaste.

This single origin cake from Gu Yun Workshop highlights the unique flavor and texture of the Wei Zhu mountain range. Gu Yun spared no expense, pressing this cake from luxurious golden buds for a velvety gong ting shu with notes of custard cream, cinnamon, redwood, vanilla, and a perfectly smooth soft beautiful texture.

Longyuanhao Workshop only pressed a few thousand of these 100g Tuochas, a special collaboration with the Menghai Tea Research Institute back in 2006 in the heyday of the pu’er boom market. Wang Yanxin was able to secure a few dozen Tuochas back in 2008 thanks to her relationship with Longyuanhao Workshop, and is pleased to release them from her cellar after nearly 20 years of climate-controlled aging. This tea has beautiful notes of nutmeg, cardamom, cooling camphor, citron and passionfruit, with a sweet ginger molasses cookie aftertaste.

Yuan Zhang Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This pressing is called Shen Xin, which loosely translates to “profound spirit,” an inspiration for this elegant and well balanced flavor profile. Notes of cardamom, brown sugar, dried apple, and rye with a juicy aftertaste.

De Hou Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This cake shows that a talented small workshop can achieve that perfect ideal flavor profile that made bigger brands like Mengku so famous, even without access to a huge cache of leaf material from across Yunnan. Through careful harvesting, and slow clean fermentation, De Hou has put together a cake picked in 2016 and pressed in 2018, brewing up beautifully with iconic notes of molasses, chocolate,cherry, cinnamon, and vanilla with a smooth silky texture.

Gong Ting or “Palace” designation is a nod to the old tea tribute system and describes the tiny golden bud pressings once offered to the imperial palace as a form of tax payment. This grade of shu pu’er is famously silky, sweet and smooth. Jing Ze Workshop’s 2016 harvest gong ting cake is no exception. This is a stunning and iconic pressing with notes of ginger cookies, spice cake, pear, and vanilla with a clean sparkling texture.

Yang Ji Tian Yuan Workshop is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. Their access to wild arbor old tree leaf material means they can put together truly unique blends. This 250g mini-cake is such a stunning, elegant example of their work, given over fifteen years to age. Notes of licorice, cinnamon, cherry, toasted rye, sandalwood incense, and a velvety cooling aftertaste.

“Deep Green mountains and crystal clear water bears forth sweet mountain herbs, a tea unlike any other.”  This line is the inspiration for Wan Yuan Workshop’s premium Ma Dui Zhang label’s 2018 "Lan Xiang" blend - a mix of buds and delicate leaves that come together for a deep, toasty, rich and complex cake.  Notes of baked apple, toasted oats, cedar, and vanilla with a rich honeyed aftertaste

Yun Cha Ke Zhi Ze Ren Handmade Tea Company is a small producer befriended by Wang Yanxin on her lifelong search to find under-represented labels doing more interesting work than the big brands. This Tuocha has no age statement. It has been in Wang Yanxin’s personal cellar for years. Based on the flavor profile, we estimate between 2006 and 2008. The flavor has a deep “old pu’er” quality with notes of incense, chocolate, plantain and cooling spearmint.

Wang Yanxin has been working with small producer Wan Yuan Workshop for years. She loves the unexpected complexity of their teas and the fact that they aren’t one of the over-represented brands out there. As a smaller producer, they are able to put out much higher quality work and deliver that value in tea, not marketing budget. This old tree shu pu’er harvest has a deep, aged quality with notes of cardamom, dried fig, lotus, cucumber and brown sugar with a sparkling texture.

This is a unique offering from the Banzhang Laoshu Workshop. As their name suggests, they are based in famous Banzhang, not Bingdao, but their work in Banzhang gives them connections to stunning producers in Bingdao. This is their unique blend, balanced from a “Banzhang” perspective but with famously cooling (and sought-after) Bingdao leaf material. Over a decade of age gives this shu pu’er a rich, sweet cooling aftertaste. Notes of sticky rice, caramel, cinnamon, elderberry and vanilla.

Fuhai Workshop is famous for their perfectly-balanced, clean Shu Pu'er, thanks to their sourcing connections and decades of blending experience. The 7576 blend represents a perfect classical ideal in the world of Shu Pu'er, blended from wild-arbor leaf material and aged for over a decade.

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.

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.

Jing Mai has become one of the more famous and sought after pu’er microclimates in Yunnan, thanks to the velvety, rich, luxurious teas that come out of Jingmai. This particular pressing comes from the smaller Wan Yuan Workshop released this shu pu’er as part of their Ma Dui Zhang or caravan collection, commemorating the tea horse trail. The buds-only gong ting blend is packed with butterscotch, and sweet cranberry aromatics, with a complexity that comes from over a decade of aging.

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 pu'er exemplifies all the reasons we like to set our favorite cakes aside and let them age for years. The 10+ years in Wang Yanxin's climate-controlled aging cellar give this tuocha that iconic foresty, cooling almost sparkling quality that makes pu'er so interesting. The cooling texture is accented by notes of rose, juicy papaya and rich black sesame. 

This unique and powerful shu pu'er from Lincang Fenjie Workshop is particularly deep and dark, with spicy ginger, cooling mint, and a big dessert-like undertone. The buddy leaf material gives this cake depth and texture, while nearly a decade of aging adds beautiful complexity.

This aged pu'er cake from Langhe Workshop is an iconic example of one of our favorite shu pu'er flavor profiles - packed with notes of blackberry, red velvet cake and allspice. Such a clean and dessert-like profile takes skillful slow aging and a balance of fine buddy leaf material, growing even deeper and more spiced with age.

This organic-certified pu'er cake from Li Ming Chen Workshop carries their Ba Jiao Ting mark, a designation of their finest pressings. The old tree leaf material combined with over a decade of aging makes this a deeply complex, richly-spiced tea, packed with minerality and depth.

This refreshingly crisp Shu Pu'er from the smaller Zhi Chun Feng Workshop was picked in 2015 and pressed in 2019. The beautiful mix of golden downy buds and deep dark tender leaves makes for a perfect balance of deep fruity undertones, foresty sweet spice, and savory biscuit bread qualities. The aftertaste has a slightly cooling quality that is sure to get deeper with age.

Yongming Workshop makes elegant and supremely drinkable Pu'er. This Bulangshan offering is unusually floral with notes of violet and tropical jasmine balancing out the dark molasses and thick lingering texture. Expect a cooling aftertaste and complex spice profile that will get deeper with age.

Yiwu is famous for its cooling foresty Pu'er, and this cake is no exception. Notes of fresh mint and cardamom show the best of classic Yiwu with extra nuance and complexity of tulsi, juicy muscat grape and a deep rye flavor. This depth comes from the "yuanshengtai" designation which means that the tea was harvested in a balanced ecosystem with forest cover and wild plants left intact.

Yongming Workshop loves highlighting single origin pressings like this standout Yiwu Shu pu’er. In single-origin pressings Yongming gets to show off the work of their farmer-partners without having to blend flavor profiles. This Yiwu standout is packed with Yiwu’s signature cooling forest flavors, along with aromatic fruit and dark buckwheat honey notes.

Gong Ting shu pu’er is pressed from delicate downy buds for a uniquely sweet profile. This Menghai pressing is unique among gong ting style for its incredibly clean light and floral qualities. Often buddy material means a certain heaviness on the palate, but not here. This is a beautiful fruity cake with spice and vanilla aftertaste that stays light on its feet.

Tiandiren Workshop blends beautiful shu pu’er. They are known for their deep fruity spiced profile and the sweet clean balanced aftertaste they bring to every cake. This offering is as smooth as any of Tiandiren’s best work, but goes off in an incredible unique direction with notes of basil, ginger and rose along with classic cooling qualities and sweet vanilla.

Zhang Xiang literally means camphor fragrance, and is used to describe those special pu’ers with deep cooling notes that transport us to pine forests after a long rain. This cake is all about its cooling sensation. Surprisingly, while zhang xiang cakes are usually incense and spice forward, this cake brings out nuanced tropical fruit and jasmine florals to accent the first notes.

The #6676 blend shu pu'er from Hongfu Workshop is about sweetness and balance, with notes of grains and sugars supported by vanilla and a hint of cedar and nutmeg. Over ten years of age have mellowed this classic tasting profile for beautiful sipping now. The decade of careful storage in relatively dry northern China lifts the sweetness with spiced depth, and adds a thick rich texture that can only continue to age into even more complexity over time.

This special rare release is one of Wang Yanxin’s favorite cakes that she has aged in the last twenty years. She managed to acquire this 2005 cake just a few years after it was pressed, and kept it protected and climate-controlled for twenty years because she loved it so much when it was made that she wanted to be sure to see it build up the depth and power it deserved. Now in 2025, she has decided to keep just a few cakes for herself and send us the rest to share. While it is hard not to keep it all ourselves, this tea is too good not to share. The wild arbor old tree foraged leaves and buds have taken on a mouth-watering, electrifying cooling sweet aftertaste and texture with notes of sandalwood, spearmint, pine, apricot blossoms and almond brittle

This huge 500g pressing from the small Kai Gu Workshop is an under-the-radar treasure - stone pressed for light compression and even, well-rounded aging. Blended from wild arbor tea tree foraged leaves and buds, this cake was made with respect for the environment. Nearly twenty years of aging show off the way Kai Gu Workshop’s thoughtful agriculture and craft yields stunning flavor and texture. Notes of fennel, rye bread, cardamom, lingonberry, apricot and jasmine with an expansive juicy aftertaste. 

Wang Yanxin has been working with Longyuanhao for twenty years. She first met them when they were still a newer brand, but they’ve picked up awards and respect over the years for their steadfast focus on quality. This tea was picked back in the golden era of sheng pu’er before the pu’er bubble collapsed, meaning that they could focus on the absolute highest quality leaf material and craft possible. Pressings from 2006 across the board have a beautiful quality, but this is something really special. Notes of dried apple, osmanthus, redwood, and sticky rice with a cooling sparkling texture.

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 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.

Banzhang region is famous for its sweet, numbing spiced sheng pu'er with its iconic ringing aftertaste. Yet, it is rare to get to try a Banzhang tea so freshly-pressed. Old-school Banzhang was often too smoky to taste young, but Xingyi workshop relies on careful low-temperature finishing for a sweet, dessert-like sheng pu'er that is ready to drink less than a year after picking. A tea this good at this age is destined for even more complexity and nuance over the years to come.

This certified organic pu'er tea is unique in the collection for holding a specific certification from a China-based program working to incentivize more producers to transition to full organic production. Of course, in Banzhang chemical-free farming has long been embraced since the region's produces some of the more sought after (and costly) Pu'er tea out there, but the official certification is a good step in building that recognition. Expect classic Banzhang numbing licorice spice but with a big fruity Longan or dried lychee quality.

This small production pressing features tender young leaf material for a stunningly sweet brew packed with juicy apricot notes, nutmeg spice and a touch of floral aromatics. The nearly ten years of age give this cake a rich almost 'oaky' quality, thanks to Wang Yanxin's careful constant humidity cool temperature cellaring.

This iconic big leaf sheng Pu'er has over 15 years of age for a deep, rich, incredibly complex flavor and texture. Big leaf Pu'er is going through a renaissance in Yunnan right now as more farmers recognize the crisp, sweet textural quality that big leaves can bring to a Pu'er cake. The large leaves were mostly shunned in the early 2000's in favor of "prettier" buds, so this cake is a rare find- part of Wang Yanxin's cellar collection. We first tried this cake in 2008, and the transformation is incredible. The tea is deeply spiced and cooling, with a tingling textural quality.

This special sampler includes eight 25g pu'er samples, from larger cakes normally unavailable in smaller sizes for 200g total (40 brewing sessions). Get to know a variety of sheng and shu pu'er from workshops all across Yunnan. It's hard to know where to begin with pu'er, but this kit offers a wide survey of workshops across Yunnan for a huge variety of taste, texture and aroma. From cooling, tingling foresty sheng pu'er to cozy rich caramel-spice shu, you'll get to see how much variety there is in pu'er. The cakes sampled are all 'best of their class' examples, some with substantial aging, generally from smaller workshops dedicated to direct farmer partnerships. If you've been looking for a way to get a deep dive into pu'er, this is it!

This special Fu Shou Xiang series from Tiandiren Workshop highlights the unique single-origin flavor profile of Bulangshan. While Bulangshan is always texturally nuanced, this standout has a unique orange and clove profile that is reminiscent of simmering cider, along with brown sugar cake and deep vanilla florals.

While Menghai workshop usually focuses on blended pu’ers, this unique pressing highlights the single-origin flavor of Yiwu. Yiwu is famous for its intense cooling foresty profile and this cake devivers with intense rich aromatics and pine forest cooling aftertaste. The silvery buds and long downy leaves already have nearly a decade of slow aging under cooler drier conditions to bring out the sweet florals and build deep nuance.

Nearly a decade ago Wang Yanxin worked with a tiny cooperative in Banzhang to press an incredible sheng pu’er that we have been asking her to bring back ever since. This year she opened her pu’er reserve and pulled out this gem for the first time - a 2007 cake with nearly 15 years of age, and the same nutty licorice-like numbing sweetness that we loved in the first Banzhang collaboration Wang Yanxin brought us. We’re so excited to get to taste and share this limited standout from Fuhai Workshop.