This raw pu’er comes from the rocky hills of Bangdong Village [邦东寨]. The gardens sit at roughly 1600 meters above sea level, surrounded by craggy soil and giant boulders.
This is the Spring harvest, made in April of 2019. The tea is picked, withered on large mats, pan-fried, rolled by hand, and sun-dried. The maocha (loose tea) was given to a local factory for sorting and stone-mold compression. This tea is an excellent example of how soil composition can directly impact the taste of the tea.
The most notable aspect about this tea is the granite-mineral flavor that peaks early in the session and provides a strong backbone for the tea. The session starts with notes of baked bread and plain cookies before later moving into a more soothing nectar sweetness. There are certainly some greener notes, but they come across more pickle-like from the salt and mineral flavors alongside it.