2018 Yiwu Bai Cha Yuan (Vintage) Puerh

FatBat Vintage Raw Puerh

易武 白茶园

2018 aged pressing of a private production from the premier Bai Cha Yuan region in Yiwu.

This tea was offered to us during our Spring 2024 trip, by a longtime tea producer friend in JingHong, Xishuangbanna. Like many other producers this year, he has felt the impact of China's slowing economy, finding it challenging to sell the same volumes to his businessmen clients as he has in the years past. In order to raise funds for his '24 production, he sought our help to move some of the inventory from his (sizeable!) private storage. Among the teas sampled, this 2018 Bai Cha Yuan was the most outstanding and we purchased the lot for ourselves -- the only drawback being the very small quantity!

These cakes were a micro-pressing done in 2018 from pure Bai Cha Yuan material. From one of the top Wan Gong gardens, Bai Cha Yuan leaf is exceedingly limited and expensive. Due to the tiny quantity of material available, this private pressing was completed with a blend of first flush Spring and late Spring material. The resulting cakes are somewhat rustic-looking, but the pedigree of this top tier region shines through clearly and at the price we are able to offer them, a bargain for this region.

The storage is impeccable, with the warmer JingHong climate yielding a beautifully aged puerh already. Yiwu fanatics who especially love the Taiwanese boutique style will find much to savor in this elegant, rounded tea. The gentle aging has coaxed classical Yiwu plum fragrance (梅子香), melon notes and sweet barnyard funk from this tea already -- it is simply a tea ready to be tasted now.

TERROIR 

Bai Cha Yuan is a micro-region in the southern part of the greater Wan Gong area, jsut across the river from Cha Wang Shu. One of the most remote gardens of Wan Gong, the terroir here is pristine. If Wan Gong in general produces some of the most expensive Yiwu teas, then Bai Cha Yuan is among the absolute cream of the Wan Gong crop. The limitation has been the tiny production quantities coming out of this micro-region, making much of the tea from here accessible only as high-priced productions intended for Chinese collectors.