Yi Pin Shi Tuocha Puer Sheng (raw) Tea 2013 100g

The leaves of the 2013 puer sheng Yi Pin Shi Tuocha tea come from the village of Bohai located in southern China. In order to categorise puer teas, we need to explain more about the area where these teas grow because in most cases it is the area itself that gives each tea its distinctive name.

In our case we are in the eastern part of the Yunnan region (famous precisely for puer production) in an autonomous prefecture called Xishuangbanna. Here in the Menghai region, this Tuo (bowl shape) was produced in 2013 by the Yi Pin Tang factory. This information indicates to us that this tea came through a factory that will have used a precise recipe to create this product, with the selection of quite small and unusual leaves and buds for a puer.

The fact that this tea is a few years old can be felt almost immediately by tasting it, because we can already sense how many flavors have structured and tied together to form a character that is complex to decipher. At the beginning, in fact, we immediately find a well structured body followed by a slightly citric taste with young wood. As we go on, we find in the aftertaste a sweetness that begins to linger very much in the throat and then pervades our palate as well, while a more sparkling, mineral flavor appears. This tea presents a really interesting development in its infusions, and so we invite you to take a moment of calm so that you can savor all this richness.

Tasting – Sight and smell

Tasting Notes

Place of origin

Bohai, Menghai – Yunnan, China

Production of puer sheng tea Yi Pin Shi Tuocha

After harvesting, the leaves are allowed to wither in the sun for a certain amount of time depending on the producer before moving on to the oxidation blocking stage, which is purportedly similar to that used to produce green teas. The special feature in this case lies in not heating the leaves as much as is done for a green tea so that certain enzymes are preserved that will modify the flavors over time. Once the leaves are cooked, they are allowed to rest overnight before concluding their drying in the sun. This yields maocha, basic green tea that will then be pressed in order to promote better transport and aging conditions. To press the leaves, they are invested by a strong jet of steam that is able to soften them externally without changing their internal moisture, and once this state is reached, it is enough to put them in a bag and close it very tightly around them to give the desired shape. To ensure that this structure remains fixed over time, the bag is left for hours under a stone or mechanical press while the leaves lose that vapor with which they had been in contact in the previous stage.

How to prepare

We strongly recommend infusing puer sheng Yi Pin Shi Tuocha tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) with a gaiwan with a capacity of about 150 ml. By following this preparation, multiple infusions can be made with 5 grams of leaves that are useful to best capture all the flavor nuances of the tea.

Heat the water to a temperature of 90°C: conduct a short rinse of the leaves and then an initial 20-second infusion. Keeping the water at the same temperature, you can then continue to exploit the same leaves by adding more water and increasing the infusion time by 5 seconds each time (20 – 25 – 30…).

This tea has a longevity of 8-10 infusions.

For a more classic preparation in 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.

For a better tasting experience, we suggest that you strain the tea as soon as the brewing time is over. The infusion timings we suggest can be slightly modified to your liking to achieve a more or less intense taste.

Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.