This Puer Shu (cooked) Organic Ancient Tree Big Leaf Tea comes from ancient trees in Yunnan, about 150-300 years old and grown at an altitude of 2100 m, with hand-harvesting taking place between the months of April and September.
It is a fully fermented puer tea with a deep red liquor that gives off a sweet flavor similar to that of Chinese dates. The taste is smooth and delicate, in sharp contrast to its rich and persistent aftertaste on the palate.
It is certainly a complex tea whose wide aromatic range is determined by the age of the trees from which it originates, whose very deep roots have over the centuries gathered all the flavors of the mountains on which they were born and grew.
Tasting – Sight and smell
Puer Shu Organic Ancient Tree Big Leaf tea has leaves whose hue ranges from light brown, sienna to brown, with a dull, vaguely dusty surface typical of puer shu. The leaves are large, folded in on themselves and rolled rather tightly. Once infused, they give off a lot of aromas: damp earth, wet wood, fennel, fresh mushrooms, a hint of leather, and a hint of sweet tobacco. The liquor is clear and very bright, ranging in color from burnt orange in the first infusion to a dark red veering to burgundy in the last.
Tasting Notes
In the opening, Puer Shu Organic Ancient Tree Big Leaf tea is sweet and delicate with notes of licorice and leather and a balsamic, fresh edge traceable to fennel. proceeding with the infusions, we find more enveloping and intense flavors of burnt wood and bark, tobacco and damp earth. A pleasant bitter note reminiscent of dark chocolate also appears on the finish, perfectly balanced with the ever-present sweet component and good minerality. The body is soft and enveloping, with good density; the persistence is long and empyreumatic.
Place of origin
Yunnan, China
How to prepare
We strongly recommend infusing Ancient Tree Big Leaf Organic Puer Shu tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to best enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation, 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) can be used in a gaiwan of about 150 ml to make several infusions with different tastes.
After a quick rinse of the leaves in 95°C water, an initial 15-second infusion can be made, and, keeping the water at the same temperature, the time can be increased each time by 5 seconds from the previous infusion (15 – 20 – 25…).
This tea has a longevity of about 7 brewings.
For a classic preparation in the Western style, we recommend 3 grams of leaves in a 200-mL cup with 95°C water for a 3-minute infusion time.
The tea can be filtered for greater ease at the moment of tasting, and also the infusion times indicated above are intended to be purely indicative, so you can also adjust according to your personal taste.
Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.