We've been wanting to make some shu puerh for a while - the last cake we pressed was in 2010. We had been looking around for other batches of shu puerh that we could press into cakes, but never found one that met our needs - grown without agrochemicals and with the energy and flavours that we wanted. Accordingly, we bought and saved maocha in spring 2020 and commissioned a studio in Menghai to ferment this for us in early 2021.
It was fermented in a large basket, using spring water to moisten the tea leaves. We kept the fermentation a bit shorter than usual, to keep the energy and vibrancy in the leaves and to try to produce a tea that was a little closer to the character of aged sheng puerh. We let the tea rest for 6 months before pressing into 200g cakes.
We're very happy with how this tea has turned out. It's vibrant, warming, smooth and very comfortable to drink.... it's even turning us into shu puerh drinkers!
