• handmade item

• materials: big-leaved arbor tea leaves from Daxueshan

• shape: brick

• dimension: 14 x 9 x 4 cm / 5.51 x 3.54 x 1.57 in

• weight: 500 g / 17.64 oz

Made with tea leaves picked from Daxueshan in 2014, this sheng pu-erh appears dark olive green and brews bright orange liquor with a vegetal aroma, full-bodied texture and long-lasting sweet aftertaste. This tea is darker coloured and less hairy than pu-erh from other regions in Yunnan.

Daxueshan means “big snow mountain”. It is located northwest of Mengku town, Shuangjiang County, within Lincang City. It is the birthplace of Mengku region’s large-leaved camellia sinensis var. assamica. Wild ancient tea trees of up to 1000 years old cover the mountain from an elevation of 2200 to 2750 m, which puts Daxueshan at the top of the list for the world’s highest and densest wild ancient tea colonies. Due to the vast temperature difference between day and night, tea trees on Daxueshan come with more sparsely distributed leaves, sometimes producing more huangpian.

The name huangpian means “yellow leaves” in Chinese. Some also call it laohuangpian, meaning “old yellow leaves”. Tea farmers filter out bigger leaves during production so that the remaining ones are neat and symmetrical when pressed into bing. Laohuangpian undergoes the same production method as sheng pu-erh and possesses the same quality. Unknown to the general public, these larger and plumpish leaves are more flavourful and sweeter as they have been grown on the trees for longer. This tea is worth trying if you wonder what the local tribe and tea farmers in the Lincang region enjoy on their own.