Origin:
Cangyuan County, Yunnan Province, China Cultivar: Mengku Da Ye Zhong Broad Leaf
Elevation: 1600-1800m
Harvest:
March-April 2022Sheng Pu’er tea is made from sun-dried green tea using the Sun’s light and energy to finally dry the tea.
This natural drying method predates the modern and more widespread practice of oven drying tea. The sunlight and slow rate of natural drying creates a uniquely sweet fermentation taste and aromatic profile that only the Sun’s natural UV can produce.
Sun-dried green tea is then steamed and pressed into cakes for enjoyment and collection.
This lot of 200 cakes is from a Wa ethnic village on the border of Lincang, Yunnan and Burma that we have worked with for the past decade for Red and Pu’er tea. The local people established a large plantation by planting the seeds from ancient trees in 1903. The teas here are fruity and deep with notes of resinous woods and olive leaves. The tea soup density is thick and a bit oily and bittersweet with multi-florals.
Some Yunnan tea experts we traveled with in this area mentioned that most of this plantation is related to the Mengku Da Ye Zhong type of broad leaf tea which is one of Licang Prefecture’s high performance cultivars.
Chip the cake carefully with a pick or Pu’er dagger.
Add 7g - 8g to a Gaiwan or Gongfu teapot (per 150ml-200ml).
Use 212°F boiling water.
Briefly rinse leaves for 5 - 10 seconds. Decant and discard this rinse infusion.
Proceed to infuse the tea using boiling water. Enjoy each infusion individually and savor the flavors of each round.
Decant 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th infusions after 20 - 30 seconds. The tea infuses fast and gives out its strength in the beginning of the session. Brew the tea several times until the taste weakens.
Increase the infusion time to your taste preference after you become familiar with the tea. The bitterness, strength, power and Qi forces will come out in the later brews with increased infusion time.
