Puer Sheng (raw) tea Bing Dao 2014 200g

Bing Dao 2014 puer sheng (raw) tea is a product carefully selected by Tea Soul to offer an even more in-depth tasting experience and knowledge regarding the complex type of puer teas. The gardens where the leaves of this sheng come from are located in the famous Bing Dao area near the city of Lincang and on the shores of the Mengku River. This area and its five main villages (Laozhai, Nanpo, Bawai, Nuowu, Dijie) have a long history related to tea cultivation carried on over time by the local Dai ethnic group. Indeed, in this mountainous area it is easy to find camellia trees that are even more than five hundred years old. Often the leaves from the oldest trees in this area do not even reach the market because they are already destined for prominent people in Chinese society, but the very high average age of the camellias among these villages means that they always have a product with the characteristics given by a centuries-old plant.

Puer sheng Bing Dao gives a fairly taut flavor profile in the cup between a deep fruity sweetness and a slight empyreumatic tone. Around these two elements is also the maturation of this product that emerges giving a warm sensation on the palate and a honeyed, oxidized taste almost similar to that in some aged white teas. To learn more about this important area of Chinese tea production you can compare this puer with another view of Bing Dao found in our offering.

Tasting – Sight and smell

Tasting Notes

Place of origin

Bing Dao – Yunnan, China

Production

After the harvest the leaves whither under the sunlight for a certain period of time depending on the tea masters evaluations before going into the “killing of the green” phase which is similar to the practice adopted for green teas. In this case, however, the leaves are heated in the iron wok with a lower temperature than the usual standards for a green tea so it is possible to preserve some enzymes capable of changing the the taste of the tea through the time. After being pan-fried the leaves rest during the night time before the last drying phase under the sun in the next day. In this stage the product is called maocha and it is ready to be (eventually) pressed in order to have the best conditions to being transported and aged. To press the leaves, the producer exposes a certain quantity of the product to a strong steam jet for few seconds in order softened the vegetal mass and then wrap all up in a kind of sock or sac to imprint the final, usually discoid, form. To maintain the desired shape the sac is put under an heavy stones for several hours or under a mechanical press while the leaves loose the residual moisture caused by the steam in the previous phase.

How to prepare

We highly recommend infusing this tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to best enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation, 5 grams of leaves 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 water at 90°C, an initial infusion of 20 seconds can be made, and after that, keeping the water at the same temperature, the time can be increased each time by 5 seconds from the previous infusion (20-25-30…)

This tea has a longevity of about 8 infusions.

For a classic preparation according to the Western style, we recommend 2.5 grams of leaves in a 200-mL cup with water at 90°C for an infusion time of 2 1/2 minutes.

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.

Black Friday 50