Zhoushi Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2017

Harvested from a Fengqing large-leaf species older than 200 years, this raw pu-erh cake crafted by Mr. Zhou follows the one bud with two leaf standard, and was processed using purely traditional methods. The cake is flat and round with plenty of thick buds distributed evenly throughout both the surface and interior. When brewed, the tea’s fragrance spreads slowly and expands with sweet notes of honey.

As this pu-erh is relatively young, its taste is somewhat bitter and astringent, though these quickly fade into sweetness in later steeps. Unlike other tea types, pu-erh is a very interesting variety that demands careful tasting; it will surprise you with its taste and aroma every time you drink it.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 12oz / 355ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	203℉ / 95℃		203℉ / 95℃
	5g Tea		8g Tea
	Brewing time: 3 - 5 mins		12 steeps: Rinse, 10s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s, 80s, 100s, 140s, 180s, 240s

There are fifteen towns in Fengqing that cultivated old tea trees: Xiang Zhu in Xiaowan Town; Xinyuan; Dashi Village; Mengyou Village; Yongxin; and several others, together totalling around 31,000 mu.

Mengyou is an area in Yunnan thick with tea trees, half wild and half cultivated. Many of the old trees here are a hundred years old, while a select few are a thousand or more. The ancient tea plantations here have established a special cultural landscape, lending great vitality to this place.

People here usually climb up the tree to pick tea leaves.

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.

At the 14th Chinese Tea Industry Economic Annual Conference in 2021, Mr. Zhou won the honorary title of "National Tea Craftsman -- Tea Master".

This pu-erh cake comes from the representative pu-erh production region of Fengqing, in the southern part of the Dianxi Longitudinal Valley. Fengqing is a county in the northwestern part of Lincang and is one of the four famous pu-erh production areas among Xishuangbanna, Pu’er, and Baoshan, and is also one of the first birthplaces of tea throughout the entire world. It is also famous as being the hometown of Yunnan black tea in Lincang.

Fengqing holds a long history of tea planting, production, and drinking, and the land itself is beautifully varied between high mountains and snaking rivers.

This tea is made from the Fengqing large-leaf species, a unique type of Yunnan large-leaf tea tree. It propagates sexually and is a super large-leaf arbor type, meaning it can grow to be more than six meters tall.

In 1984 this variety was certified by the Chinese government as a national grade. It contains an abundance of tea polyphenol (30.2%) and catechins (13.4%), and also contains 2.9% amino acids and 3.2% caffeine.

Pu-erh is one of the oldest types of tea in China with a history stretching back over 1700 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 originally the early trading center for this tea. In early history pu-erh was used as a bartering currency in southwest China, with the famed Cha Ma Gu Dao, the Tea Horse Road, being built for the purpose of transporting this tea through the Himalayas to other countries and areas in Tibet.