2022 Spring Hua Zhu Liang Zi Loose Maocha

滑竹梁子 2022年春二采

Spring 2022 second flush, old arbor mixed picking from the gardens of farmer Shi. This material was picked and processed as an entire grove without cherry-picking individual trees, hence it is mostly gushu with some younger "da shu" (big trees) included in the picking. 

Unable to visit farmer Shi and his family in the Spring, we made the return trip in October 2022 instead to secure this small batch which had been saved for us from late Spring.

The quality of this material is superb. Mouthfeel is broad, rounded and very smooth. Pristine taste profile of Mengsong bitter-mineral-tang, giving way quickly to a rich herbaceous umami of forest fern and mushroom, followed by a lasting finish of stone-fruit juiciness. The qi and body feel is especially powerful in this tea, very energizing and euphoric under the right circumstances, be forewarned!

TERROIR 

Known as the highest peak in Xishuangbanna at over 2400m, Hua Zhu Liang Zi (Slippery Bamboo Ridge) is a part of the greater Mengsong region, just an hours' drive from Naka. The high elevation and climate contributes much to the characteristics of the tea, which is highly aromatic and with a distinct mineral character, very clean on the palate.

The recent challenge with sourcing tea from villages in this region has been the increase in demand from big factories, resulting in blending of material from terrace-plantations at the foot of the mountain, as well as rushed processing. Thus, we only work with one or two trusted farmers with access to gardens farther upslope, and who are willing to process small batches to our strict specifications.