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Sample Pu'er Cakes from Workshops Across YunnanThis special sampler includes six 25g samples from larger 357g cakes normally unavailable in smaller sizes for 150g total (30 brewing sessions). Get to know both classic and obscure sheng and shu pu'er from workshops all across Yunnan. Exploring the world of pu'er can be difficult if you need to invest in full 357g pressed cakes before getting to try them. This sampler is a chance to try both single origin and blended workshop cakes and get to know what you like most. 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 real deep dive in pu'er, this is it!
Regular Price $43.80 $39.42 - Exploring Pu’er from China’s Oldest Tea Forest
This bundle includes five 25g bags of Qianjiazhai tea and a full 100g cake for 225g total (40 sessions). The Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative of Qianjiazhai is a loose-knit coalition of families across the remote mountaintops of China’s oldest tea forests dedicated to sustainable stewardship of the wild tea plants, and careful foraging from trees that can be over a thousand years old.
Master Zhou founded the cooperative to refine the finishing craft and picking techniques across Qianjiazhai and bring more well-deserved respect to one of China’s most important but also most unknown tea regions. This tasting kit is an introduction to the incredible diversity of flavor, texture, aroma and aftertaste that wild-foraging in an ancient tea forest can bring.
In this kit you’ll taste the careful heat-free sun dry craft of Qianjiazhai’s sheng pu’er and the fermentation of their shu pu’er, while also tasting the rare near-tea relative camellia crassicolumna, naturally caffeine-free and incredibly intense and aromatic. This kit is an invitation into a little-seen side of tea and its ancient wild origins.
Regular Price $57.95 $52.16 - 2011 Najiao Cooperative Yiwu ShengWang Yanxin has been working with farmers in Yiwu for over fifteen years. She has recently partnered with the Najiao Farmer’s Cooperative to offer this extraordinary example of Yiwu’s trademark zhang xiang, the camphor-like cooling flavor that the tea picks up from such a high elevation biodiverse environment. The loose compression was expertly handled by Tian Long Tea Co, giving the tea enough circulation for even aging and easy breaking when it comes time to drink. Wang Yanxin has been able to age this tea out seven years to bring out rich sandalwood spice and forest flavors.
- Qianjiazhai Gong Ting Shu + Tea Flower Cake
Qianjiazhai Gong Ting Shu Pu'er is still a very new practice, made only by one of Master Zhou's students in the cooperative. Using the giant buds of QIanjiazhai's wild trees between 100 and three hundred years of age, this tea is carefully and slowly pile fermented to bring out a deep rich sweetness.
This new blend of 2014 gong ting shu pu'er and Autumn 2020 tea flowers was pressed in the cooperative's small 100g cake stone mold. This is the first time Master Zhou has pressed tea flowers with Gong Ting Shu in a cake, and the result is a beautiful visual contrast. The floral boost to the textural complexity and nuance of this budset shu pu’er is a welcome addition. The clean natural fermentation preserves the herbaceousness of the tea, and the florals bring it out even further.
Regular Price $17.50 Special Price $14.88 - 2021 Zun Sheng Dragon Pearls
Zun, or ‘revered’ is the name the Li Family of the Zhenyuan Dongsa Cooperative gives to the tea picked from their tea trees aged between 300 and 800 years old. This name is a reminder to them of the value of these old trees and of the respect that humans should pay to a living thing that has persisted for so long. Their sustainable foraging lets the trees continue to grow for future genertations to enjoy. The Dragon Pearl pressing of their 2021 Zun sheng pu’er is full of spice and cooling camphor, and steeps out consistently as the ball unfurls over time.
- 2008 KT952 Loose Leaf ShuThis tea is made from tiny spring buds from old growth tea trees and fermented for a clean and smooth flavor. Xingyang is proud that ten years of age on this tea will taste more like a twenty year pu’er because of the quality leaf material and slow meticulous fermentation process. The result is deep, herbaceous and cooling with a lingering aftertaste.
- Yang Ji Tian Yuan 2006 Big Leaf Sheng
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.
- 2011 Nuomi Xiang Shu TuochaWang Yanxin has just released this rich and incredibly clean shu pu’er after a generous eight years of aging to deepen its complexity. When brewed, this tea has a striking aroma of sweet sticky rice. This aroma comes from the unique blend of Nuomixiang or Semnostachya menglaensis leaf with Wan Yuan workshop’s high grade shu pu’er. As the yunnan native Nuomixiang leaf ages with the pu’er they come together in a uniquely clean mineral-forward tea.
- 2014 Qiao Mu Shu Pu'er Mini-Brick
These 5g mini-bricks from Xingyang workshop utilize "Qiao Mu" or wild arbor leaf. This designation refers to groves that have been untended long enough to reach a natural state, including deeper biodiversity and larger plants with deeper roots (and lower yields). This mini-brick provides a great contrast other shu pu'er teas in Xingyang's collection, brewing up with bright fruit and fresh mint. Hibiscus is prominent, with an underlying sticky rice and buckwheat honey note. This is a great testament to the range that Xingyang can achieve through their careful blending and slow fermentation process.
- 2021 Loose Leaf Gu Hua Sheng
Craft and terroir have come together beautifully for this 2021 early autumn harvest from Qianjiazhai's wild tea trees. The Dongsa Cooperative wild-forages buds and tender leaves from tea trees between one hundred and three hundred years of age for this loose sheng pu'er blend. Every hand-picked leaf is withered and sun-dried in bamboo baskets, with little or no heat exposure to lock in the most wild and natural flavor of one of the most remote growing regions in the world.
- 2006 Hong Fu #6676 Shu Pu'er
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.
- Ba Jiao Ting 2008 Qiao Mu Shu Pu'er
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.
- Yongming Workshop Bulangshan 2018 Shu Pu'er
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.
- Banzhang Xingyi Workshop 2021 Sheng Pu'er
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.
- 2018 Yiwu Hongjun Workshop Yuanshengtai Shu Pu'er
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.
- Zhou Family Workshop 2014 Spring Buds Menghai Sheng Pu'er
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.
- Pasha Mountain Big Tree 2019 Xingyi Workshop Sheng Pu'er
This younger sheng from Xingyi workshop is packed with beautiful herbaceous spice and floral notes. With basil, mint, chervil and rose, the first sips are like a Mediterranean garden. As the tea opens up, it reveals a deep juicy cooling mouthwatering quality that hints at incredible complexity that will continue to develop for years to come.
- Banzhang Qiaomu 2012 Organic Certified Sheng Pu'er
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.
- Yang Ji Tian Yuan 2006 Big Leaf Sheng
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.
- 2017 Jingmai Shu Pu'er
This full 100g shu pu'er brick from Xingyang Workshop is a great introduction to their work. The unique sweet sarsaparilla flavor of this beautiful Jing Mai Shan pu’er is a real delight. You can break off one piece for a larger gaiwan or pot, or a half piece for a small personal gaiwan or teapot. Don’t miss the mineral-laden sparkle in the texture and the deep juniper forest notes that complement the “root beer” like sarsaparilla and molasses.
- Sample Pu'er Cakes from Workshops Across Yunnan
This special sampler includes six 25g samples from larger 357g cakes normally unavailable in smaller sizes for 150g total (30 brewing sessions). Get to know both classic and obscure sheng and shu pu'er from workshops all across Yunnan. Exploring the world of pu'er can be difficult if you need to invest in full 357g pressed cakes before getting to try them. This sampler is a chance to try both single origin and blended workshop cakes and get to know what you like most. 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 real deep dive in pu'er, this is it!
Regular Price $43.80 $39.42 - Yang Ji Tian Yuan 2005 Qiaomu Gao Shan Shu Pu'er
Yang Ji Tian Yuan Workshop has selected wild arbor high elevation tea from old-growth trees for this deeply complex and generously-aged offering. Sweet cinnamon, cooling tingling mint and floral aromatic rose and vanilla come together for a classic juicy tingling Shu Pu'er packed with nuance and textural depth
