2016 Ma An Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea Mao-Cha Pre-Booking

We purchased Ma An Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea. Tea became excellent quality this year because there was no rain one week before plucking season. Since we are very happy with the quality, we decided to open the pre-booking of the Ma An Shan mao cha (loose tea).

Ma An Shan tea gives extraordinarily strong body

Ma An Shan is a very famous tea production area in Zhen Kang county, Yunnan Province. Ma An Shan tea gives a bold taste and three dimensional sensation on palate that makes us feel very rich and broad drinking feeling. In fact, any agricultural product in Ma An Shan, such as coffee, rice and vegetable, gives the same taste profile. It is due to the yellow and elastic soil in Ma An Shan. The characteristic of the soil in Ma An Shan is like the fine Zhu-ni (朱泥). The taste profile of Ma An Shan tea is similar to the famous tea origin such as Lao Ban Zhang (老班章), Yi Wu (易武) and Xi Gui (昔归). Tea from these places all gives very strong body, that makes flavor very rich and broad. I personally feel that the taste of Ma An Shan tea is one of the strongest among the tea from these famous tea production areas. Nevertheless, the price of Ma An Shan tea is 1/10 of these famous places due to the very remote location and less people are visiting there.

We only select tea from the natural farming garden (with no fertilizer)

Although Ma An Shan is still less known in the world, its name is very famous in local county like in Zhen Kang and Yong De. Recently, the agricultural practice in Ma An Shan village has changed a lot. Ever since the price of tea increases, farmers use fertilizers in order to increase the output of tea. Usually once the fertilizer is applied, tea grows faster. As a result, the aftertaste of tea becomes very light, thin and less complex. Nevertheless, although fertilizer is applied, the Ma An Shan tea still gives very strong body. It could be due to the fact that the soil in Ma An Shan is overwhelmingly good quality. However, the quality of tea is not just about aftertaste and body. Once fertilizer is used, the taste of tea is no longer very clean and clear, but becomes bitter and coarse. Whether tea is grown with fertilizer or not gives a very noticeable outcome, even those who are less familiar with tea could tell the difference when they drink and compare the taste side by side. Since we love the taste of naturally grown tea, we source our pu-erh tea from the remote tea garden located at much higher altitude than the Ma An Shan village. Since the particular tea garden is too far away from any village, no one is willing to take the trouble to carry fertilizer such a long way up to the tea garden. As a result, tea trees are kept in a very natural environment.

Muscatel Flavor

The naturally grown Ma An Shan tea gives a very sweet muscatel flavor if tealeaf is processed into white tea or black tea. The muscatel flavor comes from the specific constituents in tealeaf. These tea constituents are developed in response to the attack of insects on tealeaf. Since no weeds are removed and no pesticide is applied, the tea tree in this Ma An Shan area is exposed to attack of these insects. It is just like the tealeaf used in making Oriental Beauty in Taiwan. The tea garden is left without removing weeds and no pesticide is used. The natural environment promotes a balanced ecology. Only natural farming garden is possible to have the presence of insects. It may sound unfavorable to the tea manufacturer because the output could be reduced; nevertheless, the tea quality and characteristic is beyond ordinary tea garden. In last year, we introduced Ma An Shan white tea produced from natural farming garden. After keeping the white tea for a year in Malaysia, tea develops a very sweet muscatel flavor. Since the same tealeaf is used for raw pu-er tea, I am very excited to see the outcome after aging it for a few years. The tealeaf of Ma An Shan is slightly bigger than tealeaf from other origin. As opposed to its appearance, the taste of Ma An Shan raw pu-erh tea is very soft and sweet. With good water, it brings up a flavor that reminds me of mango. In fact, I was very impressed by the mango flavor when I first tried it. As we mentioned earlier, this year the quality of Ma An Shan raw pu-erh tea is excellent thanks to the dry weather that lasted for a week before tea plucking. In addition, the cold weather slows down the growing speed of tea. As a result, tea tastes very creamy and soft. Tea is also very well managed in production. Thanks to the perfect management in pan-frying and sunshine drying, tea gives a very clear taste with a hint of floral note, and there is no burnt or musty flavor at all.

Aging between cake and mao-cha

The well-processed pu-erh tea undergoes maturation very well regardless of whether it is compressed or loose. Since we wish to share the refreshing flavor of the freshly made tea, we decided to introduce Ma An Shan mao-cha (loose tea). This Mao Cha is only available for pre-booking this week. The remaining quantity of the tea will be compressed into 200g cake. Ma An Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea contains very high mineral content and is rich in polyphenols thanks to the natural farming practice, high altitude and special soil condition. This tea can be stored even up to 30 years or more. Nevertheless, I love to drink this tea when it is very fresh. Although fresh raw pu-erh tea does not give strong fruity flavor, its taste is very gentle and delicate; I can drink it throughout the day without getting bored. The advantage of compressing tea into a cake is to speed up the maturation process. On the other hand, the maturation speed of mao-cha is slower than compressed cake. However, the distinctive refreshing flavor of mao-cha does not disappear but remains throughout the aging process. Thanks to the combination of maturation flavor and the original sweet flavor of mao-cha, the flavor of matured mao cha becomes very attractive. Even though the maturation of mao-cha takes longer time, I always look forward to its outcome in long-term storage. If you wish to age the tea, please make sure to keep it unopened. Normally, the flavor of tea becomes nicer after opening the bag for a few days. The pre-booking of Ma An Shan mao cha is open until next Monday, 25th of April. The remaining quantity of Ma An Shan raw pu-erh tea will be compressed into 200g cake right after 25th of April. Please send us an e-mail at info2@hojotea.com if you wish to book this mao-cha.

Ma An Shan Raw Pu-erh Tea 2016 Mao-Cha/Loose tea

100g (100g bag x 1) JPY4,900 200g (100g bag x 2) JPY9,400 600g (100g bag x 6) JPY27,800 1000g (100g bag x 10) JPY39,200

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