2023 Kunlu Shan Imperial Tribute Tea

FatBat Imperial Tribute Tea Series

困鹿山皇家茶园

Each Spring, we spotlight one of the 4 historical Imperial Tribute Tea Gardens. 

• 2022 - Xu Li Shan
• 2023 - Kunlu Shan
• 2024 - MiDi

Kunlu Shan is probably the most famous of the 4 main Imperial Tribute puerh tea areas (the others being ManSong, MiDi and Xu Li Shan). This year’s tea is picked directly from within the old Imperial tea garden itself. Our objective is to showcase a very representative, classical expression of this Imperial tea.

Like most tribute puerh teas, the flavor profile of teas from this core garden is distinctive, with a focus on absolute purity of aroma and delicacy of taste. Almost simplistic/zen in approach, a tea to be enjoyed in stillness and self-focus. It is this character that we preserve in our production of Kunlu Shan Tribute tea.

True gushu in the imperial garden (not to be confused with the other old trees in KunLu Shan but outside this garden) is sold for extortionate prices. Instead, we selected a picking of big trees (大树) within the core growing area. We also included a number of those trees referred to locally as “small tall-pole” (小高杆), which we found to impart a very distinct expression of the local terroir in the tasting profile. 

TERROIR

Kunlu Mountain, situated in Pu’Er county along the ancient tea trading route, is best known for being the site of the ancient Qing Dynasty Imperial tea gardens. True top tier Kunlu gushu is unattainable for most, as the market for gushu material from this region borders on ridiculous. "First Grade" gushu fresh leaf went for up to $1200 per kg at 2021 spring auctions ($4800 per kg dried maocha). “Regular” gushu goes for roughly half that. 

The smaller trees in the core imperial gardens also produce top notch quality material, as the entire area is strictly regulated for ecological conditions and agrochemical use. This yields a very distinct profile and quality, hence these this material is highly valued vs. the trees growing elsewhere on this big mountain (no matter how old).

Note that so-called "wild varietal" Kunlu teas available for much less are a completely different product from the semi-cultivated varietals. Wild teas may be interesting to some, especially given their old age, but their taste profile is highly unpredictable. 

TECHNICALS