Ripened Cube Tuocha Pu-erh Mini Brick

The Chinese word fu, 福, means ‘good fortune and happiness’. We introduce you now to this ripened pu-erh cube tuocha, made in 2006 embossed with this character: let this cute miniature brick bring you happiness and good fortune in the coming year.

This tea is a type of aged ripened pu-erh, fully fermented to bring out a rich yet mellow earthy taste. The fermentation it has gone through also means this tea can be indefinitely stored to mature: the longer it remains in proper storage, the more developed the flavor becomes, much like a fine wine. Because of this, you can choose to either drink it immediately after you receive it, or to preserve it for years to enhance its taste and value.

Drinking pu-erh tea is also beneficial to your health, especially in digestion.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 12oz / 355ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	212℉ / 100℃		212℉ / 100℃
	1 piece Tea		1 piece Tea
	Brewing time: 5 - 8 mins		6 steeps: rinse, 30s, 30s, 20s, 20s, 30s, 50s

Ying Pan Shan Tea Garden is located within Simao County, Pu’er City, Yunnan Province. The gardens here cover more than 40,000m, along mountains almost always coated in cloud and mist.

The material for this tea comes from the Simao area in Yunnan province, which has been producing pu-erh tea for more than 800 years. This area is right along the edge of Tibet, with a high elevation and warm summers, the abundant rainfall allowing tea trees to grow especially large, plump buds and leaves perfect for crafting pu-erh.

Yunnan large-leaf is a rare variety of tea bush, and one of the kinds best-suited to making pu-erh tea. Yunnan has a unique geographic advantage, with plenty of rainfall and proper temperature for growing large-leaf varieties. The leaves from this variety are abundant in polyphenols, catechins, amino acids, and 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.