Tea of the year 2025

 

The tea of the year 2025.   It is a raw pu erh, a Banzhang. Unknown factory.   Produced in 2005, this tea was stored in the hot and humid climate of Malaysia. 

When I first sampled the tea, I assumed it was a from the Bulang region of Yunnan. The tea was very strong and aromatic. It had a light fruity aftertaste with a lighty bitter background.  I was shown the cake and it was a banzhang tea. Banzhang pu erh is located in the Bulang region. as well and there are many similarities in taste and aroma. 

The tea was produced in 2005 just before the pu erh price bubble broke in 2007 and just before banzhang became a craze in the pu erh tea market. 

20 years of storage is a long time to wait for the tea to ferment or age to a sweet and mellow drink.  A tea expert in USA.... in his own opinion thinks that a 21 year old cake stored in Seattle might only be a rough equivalent of a 7 year old cake store in Guangdong.   I am more generous as I think it is a 2 to 1 ratio. That a 20 year old USA stored tea is equivalent to 10 years of Guangdong storage. 

This banzhang tea had 20 years old of Malaysian storage. . It would meant that the tea would take 4 decades of USA storage to reach the taste and aroma of the local storage here. 

Too mind boggling. I am thirsty. 

Fukien Teashop Shui Hsien

 I had stored this tea for about 10 years and decided to start drinking this shui hsien this week.  Fukien teashop is an old tea shop located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.  They are most famous for their Tie Kuan Yin, an oolong they roast for more than 40 hours. They also sell other teas like pu erh and white tea which I had written about in my earlier posts.

This shui hsien is also high roasted. I remember that when I had opened a newly bought Fukien shui hsien, the tea was a bit rough as the high roast was overpowering the taste of the oolong. Now with 10 years of storage, the tea has mellowed. I can sense the 'high roast' but it is does not take centrestage when I had a session of this tea. This oolong is mellow and mouth watering. This mellow smoothness; I believed can only be achieved through time in storage. This is the reason why old 'high roast; oolong are highly sought after by the Chinese tea drinking community.  

I think I will have another tea session of this tea tomorrow as well.