• handmade item

• materials: big-leaved arbor tea leaves from the village of Mangnuo

• shape: cake

• dimension: diameter 13.5 cm / 5.31 in

• weight: 200 g / 7.05 oz

This is WYMMTEA’s signature tea. Handmade with the premium first flush of 2014 spring from Mangnuo village, this sheng pu-er brews bright golden with a vegetal, minty and honey flavour and with the aroma of freshly mown grass in the morning. The tea is filled with powerful and masculine chaqi. A pronounced bitter taste lingers in the back of the tongue with hints of astringency in the initial steeps, which are slowly replaced with a honey aftertaste. The liquor is heady because of the ultra-concentrated nutrients in this tea. Each serving of this tea can last up to 20 steeps.

This single-state tea is sold nowhere else; grown only in the ancient tea gardens around Mengku, located in Shuangjiang county of Yunnan province in China, these 200 to 300-year-old trees have distinct branch shapes similar to cane or rattan. The name Tengtiao, meaning cane or rattan, was coined by Zhan Yingpei, an acclaimed scholar specializing in Yunnan tea culture.

Since the Qing dynasty, these trees have been shaped using a unique technique that trims off all the excessive sub-branches and bigger leaves, leaving only two fresh tea buds per branch. The method for growing, trimming and picking the tea concentrates all the tea nutrients within the two tea buds in every branch, creating a fragrance unseen in most pu-er. This tea’s production is very low due to special trimming and picking methods. However, the harvested tea buds are elegant and delicate, without tough stalks or old leaves. Each sun-dried tea bud is covered with very dense, fine hair that shimmers under the sun. The final product – Qizibing Cha, is presentable and highly sought after for collection.