One of the highlights of 2020. This tea comes from a tea garden which is surrounded by forest on the Yiwu-Lao border.

The wet leaves have a woody/herbal/floral/ aroma.

The 'gong dao bei' gives off a sweet, honey aroma with a light menthol note.

The 'ru kou' is smooth but quite bold. The tea has some bitterness which transforms almost immediately to sweetness and produces a good mouth-watering 'sheng jin'. The mouth-feel is smooth and dense. The flavour is fulsome yet very well balanced, tending more toward woody-herbal notes with only a slight astringence.

The broth is a clear mid-yellow.

The tea has a good amount of depth and a 'hui gan' that is good, without being overly sweet.

Overall a well balanced, rather intense drink that shows good stamina.

Please be aware that because raw Puer tea is a 'post-fermented' tea it is in a process of continual change: as it ages, but also from season to season and even day to day, so the description here is a snapshot of the tea's quality and character, which should not differ significantly, but which none-the-less can change.

All Puer teas are hand picked, fired and rolled unless it says otherwise, and sun dried. Cakes are pressed by hand using a stone or in a traditional hand press.

Please be aware that raw Puer tea is in a continual process of change - over time, with the seasons, and the weather, as it oxidised and ferments - so descriptions of teas (and the accompanying photos) are a snapshot of a certain moment in time. I try to make sure descriptions are simple yet accurate and give a feel for how the tea was experienced at the time of tasting.