Ripened Aged Loose Pu-erh Tea 2013

Loose ripe pu-erh tea can be divided into multiple grades: palace, superfine, and then grades 1 to 10, where a higher numeric level denotes a more tender tea. This tea in particular belongs to grade 3, containing mainly one bud with two or three leaves as the raw material, which is then fermented using traditional methods. The liquid comes off with a jujube aroma and is sweet, smooth, and soft; when drinking you can very clearly feel the consistency of the tea as well as identify its aroma on the wall of your teacup. If you enjoy drinking pu-erh in the afternoons, you will like this tea.

Pu-erh tea is famous for its sweet aftertaste: after you drink the tea, you will still be able to taste that sweet flavor in your mouth. The interplay of its unique milk aroma and the characteristic flavor of the tea results in a memorable experience. For more on how to mix pu-erh and milk, please see: Pu-erh and Milk, a Magic Journey of Taste.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 12oz / 355ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	212℉ / 100℃		212℉ / 100℃
	5g Tea		7g Tea
	Brewing time: 5 - 8 mins		10 steeps: rinse,10s, 15s,20s,30s, 50s, 70s,90s, 120s,150s, 200s
			Rinse time is around 5 seconds

The Lida and Dasi tea gardens sit within the beautiful Mengyou Town in Fengqing County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province. The elevation here averages 1980 meters, though can exceed 2100 meters in some places. The climate is mild and humid with an annual average temperature of about 16.2℃, and the unique natural conditions here result in land perfect for growing tea. This combined with the native large-leaf species and the superb tea processing knowledge has allowed Fengqing tea to enjoy a great reputation since ancient times.

A born-and-bred Yunnan farmer, Mr. Zhou has been avidly contributing to the tea business for more than 20 years. A short chat with him made his passion for using traditional tea crafting processes apparent; he values the essential quality inside the tea leaves, and says that his experience comes from spending most of his time in the tea gardens along the mountains. Mr. Zhou is passionate about bringing out that internal quality of the tea to share with tea lovers around the world - and also claims that the best environment for growing the perfect tea is in Fengqing.

This pu-erh tea is produced in Fengqing, located south of Dianxi Longitudinal Valley. Fengqing is a country in the northwest of Lincang, one of the four famous pu-erh production areas (along with Xishuangbanna, Pu’er, and Baoshan), and is one of the original birthplaces of tea in the world. It is also famous for being the hometown of Yunnan black tea. Fengqing has a long history of planting, producing, and drinking tea, and contains a beautiful throng of mountains webbed with rivers.

This pu-erh tea is made from the Fengqing large-leaf subspecies of the Yunnan large-leaf. It propagates sexually and takes the form of an arbour tree, meaning that it can grow to over six meters tall. 1984, the Fengqing large-leaf species was certified by the Chinese government as a national grade.

It contains an abundance of tea polyphenols (30.2%) and catechins (13.4%), as well as 2.9% amino acids and 3.2% caffeine.

Pu-erh tea is one of the oldest types of Chinese tea, with a history stretching back over 1,700 years to the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the tea was called Jing Cha. It is named after the town of Pu’er in Yunnan province, which was the earliest trading center for this tea. In its early history pu-erh was used as a bartering currency throughout southwest China, and there the famed Cha Ma Gu Dao - or Tea Horse Road - was built especially to transport this tea through the Himalayas to other countries and areas in Tibet.