Raw Pu-erh tea is a delicate tea that is fruity and fresh, like freshly made white wine. It has no bitterness or astringency, making it very popular with children.
When you think of Pu-erh tea, you might imagine a tea with a brown liquor and the flavor of dried mushrooms or dried fruits, but that is a type of Pu-erh called ripe Pu-erh.
Difference Between Raw and Ripe Pu-erh Tea >
This year we made a significant improvement in process and succeeded to produce very ideal quality. In particular, I am delighted with the tea flavour.
5 snakes were found in the tea garden
Wu Mu Long raw pu-erh tea is made in the Wu Mu Long village that is located in Yong De county of Lincang. We selected tea from the specific tea garden located at altitude above 2000m.
Before tea season begun, we went up to the mountain in Wu Mu Long village and spent a lot of time to search for the ideal garden. Generally, the tea gardens located near the village are well taken care of and usually a lot of fertilizers are used on the tea trees. This is because it is easier for villagers to walk to the garden nearby their houses and they usually spend more time with the garden located closely to the village.
When we went up to the small path far away from the village, we found a tea garden that consists of many old tea trees. Based on the size of tree, we estimated the ages are about a few hundred years old. The entire garden was fully covered with weeds. The tea trees were left just like wild plants in nature. That means tea trees were fully independent and sustainable.
According to the villager, that garden has been left unattended for more than 10 years.
The garden was owned by an old lady. She lost her husband 10 years ago and her children moved to the town to be a teacher. Since she is too old and unable to take care of her tea garden, the garden became totally wild. According to her, her family has never used any pesticides and fertilizers at all. After carefully inspected, I concluded that the garden was perfectly ideal to me. In order to secure the material from this ideal garden, we spoke to the lady that we would like to rent her garden. She was very happy with our offer. We are happy to have rented her garden this year.
The garden was fully covered with weeds. We arrange weeding.
Although we succeeded to rent the garden, the garden was too wild that no one was willing to pluck tea. Obviously, we needed to remove weeds first. My manufacturer arranged a few people for weeding.
During the work, we heard an exciting voice electrified the field. Obviously, they were agitated. I realized that they found a few snakes in the bush of the tea garden. They were catching snakes. They told me that the poisonous snake is particularly delicious. Eventually they have found five snakes in the garden. They moved four of them to another location. Unfortunately, one of them became a main course for their dinner.
Sweet flavour like fruit
Since the quality of tea leaf was excellent, we strictly managed the pan-frying process at optimum level to retain its characteristic. It makes the flavour very fruity and the taste of tea becomes very rich, creamy and soft. Thanks to the high altitude, the old age of tea tree and no fertilizer, tea gives no bitterness and astringency at all.
In addition, we strictly monitor the local weather forecast and only proceed for tea cake compression during good weather. We do not compress tea in rainy day because tea often develops musty odour. Thanks to continuous sunny weather this year, we succeeded to retain the refreshing flavour of mao-cha even after tea is compressed into tea cake. The flavour of Wu Mu Long reminds me of pine apple or dried apricots. It gives lingering sweetness down the throat and long-lasting aftertaste too.
Focus on Sourcing Naturally Cultivated Tea
Since 2010, we have been visiting Yunnan Province every spring. Over the years, we have built connections with many famous tea regions. However, our focus is not on a region's fame, but rather on tea with transparency and a long-lasting aftertaste. To achieve this, we focus on remote mountain villages, selecting tea gardens with ancient tea trees, high altitudes, and no fertilizers, sourcing through unique logistics channels. For more details, please visit the following page.
In Yunnan, teas claiming to be from famous regions are produced in thousands of locations using leaves from other areas, and can be found everywhere—from airports and convenience stores to supermarkets.
What complicates matters is the surprising phenomenon where imitation teas made from leaves in remote areas are of higher quality than the genuine articles. This is especially common with Pu-erh teas from Lincang, and it is a well-known fact among professionals involved in local sourcing. For more details, please visit the following page.
In Yunnan Province, there are long-established brands like Dayi and Zhongcha. These brands are renowned because their teas produced before 1990 are highly valued.
So why are these older teas considered special? Many people assume it is due to long aging, but in reality, the tea leaves used at that time were naturally grown without fertilizers, resulting in their superior quality.
Therefore, even if current teas are aged for a long time, they will not reach the same quality. For more information, please visit the following page.
