Ming Feng Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea 2019 is now available

Ming Feng Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea 2019 鳴鳳山古樹生茶 2019 is available now in our store both in Japan and Malaysia. The Ming Feng Shan is the name of the mountain located in the west of Lincang. In Ming Feng Shan, we particularly selected the feral garden (2100m) that is left in the wild for a long time without giving any fertilizer or pesticide.

Ming Feng Shan, the famous mountain in Lincang

Among the locals in Lincang, Ming Feng Shan is a well-known place as it has many ancient tea trees which are up to a few hundred years old. Some of the tea trees are as huge as the waist size of an adult man. The old tea tree grows very slowly. As a result, tea becomes very rich in poly phenols and mineral, that makes the taste very long-lasting and sweet. However we must be aware that once fertilizer is being applied, the taste of tea becomes very flat and thin. So, it is important for us to carefully select the tea trees that are completely sustainable and not using any fertilizer at all. Due to the increasing fame of Ming Feng Shan, those ideal gardens are getting severely limited. As it is, we only managed to produce a limited quantity of tea.

Very wild tea garden

Among many gardens in Ming Feng Shan, we have chosen the garden that is left in wild for many years. The tea garden is completely sustainable that tea trees are growing together with weeds and wild trees. In spring before the tea plucking season starts, tea plucker has to mow weeds. We often called these gardens as "sustainable tea garden" or “naturally farmed tea garden”. Nevertheless, I think calling it as Tarzan garden, wild or feral garden is more appropriate. In such tea garden, tea has to fully depends on surrounding ecology for its nitrogen intake. Usually, tea trees are chronically lack of nitrogen. So, the trunk turns white and tea leaves turn yellow.

On site management of the process

For making Ming Feng Shan Raw Pu-erh tea, we attended the entire process starting from inspection of tea gardens, the plucking of fresh tea leaf, withering, pan-frying, rolling, sunshine drying until the final step of compression into tea cake. We check the condition of tea on each step to ensure that each process was correctly carried out. In particular, we are much concern about pan-frying. Since Ming Feng Shan tea is very rich in constituents, we wanted to use the optimum temperature so as to keep the flavour and taste rich and fresh.

Very thick but clear taste

The tea from wild garden often gives distinctive characteristic in taste. I am always fascinated with its clear drinking sensation. It also gives thick and long-lasting finishing down the throat. Drinking this tea, I feel like my body is relaxing and responding. Based on my experience of brewing this tea with my water in Japan, it gives flavour that reminded me of figs or fresh longan. After drinking it, the lingering flavour gives a hint of citrus fruity note. Generally, the flavour is quite delicate at this point as tea is still new after compression. Still, it is a very enjoyable tea thanks to the thick concentration of tea liquid. Since this tea is rich in poly phenol and minerals, it is also suitable for further aging. We have very small batches of tea available both in Japan and Malaysia. Besides, we have selected a few trees and made into Single Tree Tea. The single tree from Ming Feng Shan is only available in Malaysia. Do feel free to contact us at info2@hojotea.com if you are interested.

For more on how raw Pu-erh is made, aged, and stored, see What Is Raw Pu-erh Tea?.