2004 Xinghai Grade 7 Loose Ripe Pu-Erh Tea

This excellent ripe Pu-Erh tea was produced in 2004 at the Xinghai factory in Menghai County of Xishuangbanna. Xinghai Tea factory is a relatively new tea factory established in 2002 that started winning awards for its tea in 2005. The head of the factory is a woman by the name of Zhang Jian Li, who is a life-long Menghai area resident and former master blender from the famous Menghai Tea Factory.

This tea is composed of a mixture of leaf material from the Spring and Fall harvests of 2004, and the leaf size is grade 7, which is on the larger end of the leaf grading scale. When talking about leaf grade with respect to Pu-Erh, it is important to remember that the grade of the leaf has nothing to do with taste. The grade is simply an indication of size after the tea is sorted. From smallest to largest, Pu-Erh grades are as follows: Gong Ting (Imperial); Te Ji (super fine); grade 1, 2, 3, etc. Do not think that buying the highest (lowest number) grade you can find is going to always give you the best tasting cup. As with any tea, always taste it and make your own conclusions about its quality.

This tea has been stored in Guangzhou since early 2005, and it was brought to Texas in June, 2011. As with other teas properly stored in the hot, humid climate of the Pearl River delta, this tea's liquor is smooth, thick, sweet, and woody with a lovely lingering aftertaste that starts to kick in around infusion 3. The fermentation was perfectly done and the subsequent storage in Guangzhou was adequately dry; so, when steeped, the leaves retain their integrity beautifully with very little apparent break down such as could occur in tea stored in overly hot/humid/wet conditions.

I highly recommend preparing this tea Gong Fu style using your favorite Yixing teapot or gaiwan. Use about 5 grams of leaf in a 100 ml steeping vessel and water at a boil. Of course, this tea is also quite nice with a more "Western" approach, but I encourage steeping this tea Gong Fu style with a higher leaf to water ratio and shorter steepings so that you can appreciate the thickness of this tea's liquor and its excellent aftertaste in a more concentrated cup.

For general steeping guidelines for various Chinese teas and a short downloadable "how to" video on Gong Fu style tea preparation, please visit our Chinese Tea Steeping Guide page.

Weight: 0.025 lb
11.34 grams
0.4 ounces