“Gongfu! This is definitely one of those teas that I feel is so exemplary of all the classic characteristics of sheng produced from this region and, looking back on it, I think is probably one of...” Read full tasting note
“Got a sample of this in the fall and was like meh…and let the rest sit in a closet til yesterday. Brewed a pot and was pleasantly surprised at how good it became…especially for a tea this cheap....” Read full tasting note
“I’m sipping through a pile of samples from Bitterleaf, trying to decide if they will be the source of my big birthday order. So far, the results are mixed. I almost ordered a cake of this unseen,...” Read full tasting note
Our 2017 Rooster Yiwu is the follow up to our best-selling tea of 2016. Made from the same material as our Year of the Monkey cake, this tea embodies typical Yiwu character that punches well above its class.
Overall this tea has a honey-like sweetness and enjoyable mineral fragrance. It’s light and gentle enough for beginners, but also has more than enough depth and character for experienced drinkers, particularly fans of Yiwu, to enjoy. Having known this farmer for over 10 years, we have been sampling cakes of this exact tea dating back to 2010 in storage and can confidently say it performs well over the years.
As we noted in the previous year, this tea is made from fangyang/放养 material, which literally means “left to grow”. In many cases tea like this is erroneously labelled as “wild/yesheng“. The trees were originally terrace/plantation teas, but over the last decade have been left to grow naturally without human intervention. This means no pruning, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilizer, no weed killer (weeding is completed by hand over the course of a month, once a year), and no picking outside of the spring harvest.
Company description not available.