This is a 2020 pressing from 2014 Spring harvested leaves that were picked and processed into mao cha (loose leaf raw pu-erh tea) and then aged for 6 years in Jinggu county of Simao before being pressed in March 2020.  The storage condition in Jinggu was clean with a moderate amount of humidity (wetter than Kunming, but not as wet as Guangdong)  giving the tea a nice rounded aged taste!  

Gu Shu Bai Cha means "Old Tree White Pekoe Tea".  White Pekoe refers to a Jinggu varietal called Camellia Assamica Taliensis that is very large and features hairy white buds.  Our Spring Gu Shu Bai Cha is made from trees aged 100+ years old growing near Ye Zhu Tang village in Jing Gu county.  

Ye Zhu Tang Village (lit. Wild Pig Pool) is small village about 5 miles to the north of Jinggu town and about two miles west (and uphill) from the Jinggu river.  Ye Zhu Tang village is at about 1750 meters and the tea trees grow along a steep hillside between 1800-1900 meters.

The brewed tea produces a deep thick golden-yellow tea soup.  The aroma is strong and there is a hint of rum and fruit in it.  The taste is pungent with bitterness and astringency balanced with a strong thick dried fruit sweetness.  It really needs to be experienced first-hand!

From the same garden as the 2014 and 2015 "Lao Shu Bai Cha".  We just decided to change the name, since the grower calls it "Gu Shu Bai Cha"!

 

 

Stone-pressed in the traditional manner.  

Wrapper design by Alan Behul

357 grams per cake (7 cakes per bamboo tong)

80 kilograms in total

Pressed March 20th 2020

 

 

This tea has been tested in a certified laboratory for 191 pesticides, and is within the EU MRL limits set for those 191 pesticide residues. For a full list of the 191 pesticides we tested for and more information about MRL testing and the EU Food and Safety commission click on this link.