This tea is composed of leaf material that was harvested in Feng Qing County of Western Yunnan's Lincang Prefecture in the Fall of 2005. After fermentation, the tea was
dried and sorted by leaf size in a large, wind-tunnel grading/sorting
machine. The smallest leaf grade is referred to as Gong Ting, followed by
Te Ji (super-fine), then grades 1, 2, 3, up to grade 9. As with all Pu-Erh tea,
leaf grade is merely an indication of the size of the leaf. It is not an
indication of quality.
The level of fermentation done to this batch of tea is what I would call medium, meaning that the leaves were left with enough integrity to allow for the development of flavor and complexity to occur during post-fermentation storage. This tea has had since the Fall of 2005 to mellow after fermentation, and the Wo Dui (sour fermentation flavor) has largely dissipated. Like many Lincang ripe teas, the flavor of the infused tea is smooth, mellow, slightly spicy with distinctly woody/peaty aromas. The aftertaste is clean and mildly sweet. The tea liquor is moderately thick but not muddy or heavy feeling in the mouth like some gong ting and other small leaf grades can be.
As I have often stated on this site, I am very partial to Lincang ripe tea because tea from this area fairly consistently delivers on both quality and value (to my mind at least). I think this one is a great example of what a semi-aged ripe tea from Lincang really should taste like.
