The leaves of sheng (raw) puer tea Yi Wu Gushu 2013 come from old trees of Yi Wu area in the region of Yunnan in the South of China. In order to understand this product it is necessary to know more about the area where its leaves come from because, most of the time, the place of origin commands the name and the organoleptic features of the tea. This puer is specifically made by an harvest coming from the “six famous mountains” in the wide Yi Wu area in the East part of the autonomous prefecture of Xishuangbanna in the South of Yunnan. The leaves of this batch were then carefully selected and pressed in spring 2013 by the Menghai Liming Xinghuo factory located in the Menghai County. The specific about the factory where these leaves arrived is useful to underline that, behind this puer, there is a definite style or research studied by an apposite group of tea masters in order to exploit the terroir characteristics in the product.
In the infuse of this product is possible to perceive either the partial effect of the time on the flavors either the old trees origin. The gushu (old trees) factor is recognizable by a particular smooth feeling in the body of the liquor and the high definitions of the persistent tea tastes. The age of this puer already influences the vegetal features of it showing a wet undergrowth taste while, in the aftertaste, it underlines the union between the savory character of Yi Wu area with the mineral part of the product. By the way, here, the flavor profile of the tea results enough complex revealing, on the vegetal side, many woody and herbal aspects while, about the savory part, it comes out with a rice and glutamate resemblance. Because of its rich taste the Yi Wu gushu puer 2013 is particularly suggested for the experienced tea drinkers who want to have something more deep and interesting.
Place of origin
Yi Wu – 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 the form the sac is putted 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.
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 5.5 grams of leaves (about 4 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.