The sheng (raw) puer tea Bulang Gushu 2018 comes from the the Bulang area in the south of China. In order to understand better the puer teas we have to take a close look to the area where these materials come from because usually the place of origin gives also the name to the tea. Here we are in the South of Yunnan (a famous region for puer production) in the independent prefecture of Xishuangbanna. In this area you can find top quality puer from each mountain but, in order to distinguish the products in this category of tea, some mountains are grouped in macro areas. Among these macro areas there is the Bulang one where are located a lot of famous mountains and cultural minorities which are strictly connected to the tea leaves harvest. Here the local families carefully process the tea to be, eventually, sent in the factories and received its classic discoid form. These puer origins from local producers assure a great quality product because the local people have a deep respect of the nature around their hometown. In this case the definition of maocha (which means finished loose leaf tea) makes us aware of the fact that the leaves arrived directly from the Bulang villages without passing through the factories. The word gushu instead stands for ancient trees and so it tells approximately the importance of the arbor where the leaves come from.
This tea harvest in the spring 2018 has immediately a nectar sweetness with some light floral notes perceivable in the throat and on the palate after drinking the tea. Besides these flavors there is a glutamate taste plus some green notes which give the sensation of a deep humid undergrowth after an intense rain.
Place of origin
Bulang – 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.
Preparation
We invite you to brew this tea in the traditional Chinese style (gong fu cha) in order to extract more from your leaves. Following this preparation you could use 5 grams of leaves (about 3 teaspoons) in a gaiwan of 100 ml so you can obtains more infusions with different flavors. After a brief rinse of the leaves in a 100°C water you can go with a first infusion of 10 seconds and, after that, at the same water temperature, you can do multiple infusion adding 5 seconds every steeping time (10 – 15 – 20…)
These leaves could be steep about 9 times.
To prepare the tea in the western style we suggest 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) in a 150 ml cup with 100°C water for a steeping time of one minute and a half.
The tea could be filtered if you want to avoid some little piece of the leaves during the tasting time and also the steeping time we recommend here could be modify on your personal preferences.
We recommend you to store this tea in a dry and cool place avoiding the direct sun light on the leaves.