Puer sheng (raw) tea Gua Feng Zhai gushu 2018 50g

Puer Sheng (raw) Gua Feng Zhai gushu tea comes from the village of Gua Feng Zhai located in southern China. To go and better frame the Puer tea category we need to go and better explain the area where these teas grow since in most cases it is the area itself that gives each tea its distinctive name. In our case we are in the southern part of the Yunnan region (famous precisely for Puer production) in an autonomous prefecture called Xishuangbanna.

This village, which can be reached only by intricate paths where only motor vehicles can be used, produces leaves of a high quality that are often brought to the Yi Wu Xiang area to be processed along with other top-quality raw material from the surrounding areas. As in most of Yunnan, we have very ancient tea plants here that allow this tea to be named gushu (ancient tree), and, again as in most of the region, we find a local ethnic group, the Yao, dedicated to the care and production of these highly prized leaves.

It is quite rare to find this tea in loose leaf without being blended with other varieties given its limited production but in this case we can well understand its very intense and strong taste characteristics. With a very vegetal aroma, this tea in infusion gives off a very firm and very rounded body that gives us a very lingering buttery mouthfeel. In addition to its distinctive trait we find a sweetness very similar to that of rice and thus starch along with occasional hints of somewhat bitter and sour vegetable flavor that breaks the rhythm of the previously described tastes.

Place of origin

Gua Feng Zhai, Yi Wu Xiang – 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. The particularity in this case is not to heat the leaves as much as it is done for a green tea in order to preserve some enzymes that can change the flavors over time. Once the leaves are cooked, they are left to rest for one night before finishing the drying process in the sun. Once you get there you get the maocha which can be mixed with other maocha to create unique flavor and aroma combinations before being pressed into disk shapes, tiles etc.

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 (about 3 teaspoons) can be used in a gaiwan of about 100 ml to obtain several infusions with different tastes. After a quick rinsing of the leaves in water at 100°C (212°F) a first infusion of 10 seconds can be done and, after that, keeping the water at the same temperature, it can be done increasing each time the time of 5 seconds compared to the previous infusion (10 – 15 – 20…)

This tea has a longevity of about 8 infusions.

For a classic preparation according to the western style we suggest 2 grams of leaves (about 1 teaspoon) in a 150 ml cup with water at 100°C for an infusion time of one minute and a half.

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.