2012

This Jing Mai cake is made from tall, ancient tea trees growing in Da Ping Zhang tea garden, on top of the mountain at 1,700m above sea level. These gushu leaves were hand picked & processed by Blang villagers in early April, after a week of constant sunshine. Due to the excellent weather this batch of tea is exceptionally tasty. It has that characteristic Jingmai astringency in the mouth, which comes from adaptation to the high elevation, with a deep hay & floral aroma, and a gentle huigan. These cakes were stone pressed & wrapped in Yiwu by Tea Urchin. The cover depicts Belle & Eugene trying not to fall off the mountain whilst tea picking. You can read about our Jingmai tea sourcing adventure on our blog.

Made by our friend Mr. Yu from top quality Spring leaves, this Lincang blended cake is deliciously sweet & tasty, with a very active mouthfeel. An intoxicating floral & nectar aroma hits you from the moment you unwrap the cake. Buy together with our 2012 Spring Mengku Silver Buds for a comparison tasting.

This cake is made from high quality gushu leaves sourced from Luo Shui Dong 落水洞 - a famous puer producing village in Yiwu. The farmers here are primarily Han ethnicity, known for their excellent hand-processing technique. This early spring tea produces is a clear bright yellow liquor, with a sweet, buttery mouthfeel. Because it is easy to drink when young, Luo Shui Dong is a good entry point for those new to sheng (raw) puer, or those who don’t like bitter or astringent flavors. Read more about Luo Shui Dong on our blog. To create a vertical tasting, buy together with our 2011 Autumn Luo Shui Dong.

“Bang Jie” 邦界 is a small village located in Dong Ban Shan 东半山, Mengku county. The tea farmers here are a mix of Lahu ethnic minority people and Han Chinese. Their ancient tea trees are 200-300 years old. These leaves were picked in early Spring, 2012, before the Qing Ming festival. The tea has the best fragrance of all Jin Qiao's 2012 cakes, with a robust chaqi and that good kind of old tree bitterness that dissipates quickly. A good one for aging. Buy 6 cakes and get 1 free. Or buy together with 3 other 100g cakes produced by the Jin Qiao 津乔 factory in our Mengku 2012 Spring tasting set.

"Na Jiao" 那焦 is a Lahu tribe village located in Dong Ban Shan 东半山, Mengku county. Na Jiao is famous for its old tea trees, which were planted during the Qing dynasty. This tea was harvested in early Spring, 2012, before the Qing Ming festival. The tea is amber in color, with pleasant bitterness, an aftertaste of dry grapes, and a sweet, floral aroma. Buy 6 cakes and get 1 free. Or buy together with 3 other 100g cakes produced by the Jin Qiao factory 津乔 in our Mengku 2012 Spring tasting set.

深谷幽兰 "Shen Gu You Lan" is the name given to Legend of Puer's signature cakes from the Da Xue Shan 大雪山 and Bingdao 冰岛 regions. This tea was produced in early Spring, 2012, from 500-600 year old trees growing in a single grove above 1,900m on Dongbanshan 东半山. The trees were picked on March 16th and again on the 27th. This is a feminine tea, with high fragrance, sweet and subtle flavors, and a soft, smooth mouthfeel. The chaqi is calming and builds slowly. There is some characteristic Lincang astringency, intertwined with roasted grains and sweet molasses. A refined production from the sisters behind Legend of Puer.

Wan Gong village was abandoned a century ago after reputed cattle thieving led to a massacre of the local community, and now the trees grow in relative isolation, over 3 hours walk from Ding Jia Zhai and Gua Feng Zhai. Tea poaching used to be common here, until the trees were recently distributed between the neighboring villages. This tea has a lovely sweet aroma of meadow flowers, honey and hay. Good to drink whilst young, the pale yellow liquor tastes sweet, with a thin buttery mouthfeel, no astringency, and a gentle, calming chaqi.

This Yi Shan Mo 一扇磨 puer cake was made from early Spring buds picked from unpruned 200 year old tea trees and stone pressed in Yiwu. The leaves yield a deep yellow liquor with a thick, smooth mouthfeel. The wet leaves present a subtle aroma of sticky rice and meadow flowers. The tea is viscous, with no astringency and is a pleasure to drink.