“ This product is rated “E” for extraneous objects This is manly tea; earthy, brown leaves wadded up into nuggets and smashed into a tightly compressed brick, not to mention a few bits of things...” Read full tasting note
Cha Tou is a kind of tea nugget that forms naturally from the pressures of compression and heat that occurs during the fermentation process. Typically during fermentation process to make ripe pu-erh there is a pile of tea about 1 meter high. It is kept wet to allow the fermentation process and the pile is turned every few days to allow for an even degree of fermentation, moving the tea from the bottom of the pile (where it is hotter and wetter) to the top of the pile where it is cooler and drier. The “cha tou” are the leaves that ball up and get stuck together. The best cha tou are ones that have not been over-fermented and are smaller in size.
This Lao Cha Tou brick is composed entirely of Menghai area material. Our 2012 production is a blend of 2 different “cha tou”, one from 2006 and another from 2009. The fermentation levels of the 2006 batch is slightly heavier (leaves are darker), whereas the fermentation level of the 2009 batch was lighter (some lighter brown color with hints of olive in the brewed leaves). These two different cha tou together makes for a nice full mouthfeel. Smooth but with a lingering mouth-feel and cha qi. An excellent ripe tea that can be brewed 15 to 20 times.
Net Weight: 250 grams per brick
Fermentation time: 2006 and 2009
Harvest Area: Menghai County of Xishuangbanna
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