2024 Bodhi Grove Ancient Trees Puerh

 FatBat Private Pressing Gushu Raw Puerh

菩提箐古树

This year’s wildcard – an exceedingly obscure tea typically traded only within insider circles. A tea only fervent Chinese connoisseurs may have heard of, but perhaps not even able to easily obtain.

Through deep connections (and a hefty amount of persistence), we have managed to obtain a small amount of this rare tea to offer this year. It is a top-tier Simao region tea which potentially competes with the big guns like Phoenix Nest or Kunlu Shan. Like the aforementioned names, the trees here are of the small-leaf variety, producing tea that is highly refined and delicate, with great complexity.

We recommend this for the experienced puerh drinker who will appreciate the rare chance to taste this obscure, hard-to-obtain tea.

TERROIR 

The ancient tea gardens of Bodhi Grove (Pu Ti Qing 菩提箐) are managed by 17 families from Lao Long Zhai (老龙寨) or “Old Dragon Village”. Located on the distant slopes of Buddha Lotus Mountain (Fo Lian Shan 佛连山) in Simao, these groves are considered “Zen Tea Gardens” (禅茶园), for obvious reasons.

Total annual production of the village does not exceed 350kg, including non-gushu material. Each year, the finished maocha is almost entirely monopolized by a local “big brother” company (which we will just name as CP Tea Traders) to be offered privately to well-connected and wealthy collector clients as “Zen Tea” (禅茶). We have not seen tea from Bodhi Grove traded publicly before. Naming and spiritual associations aside, the tea is indeed superlative in quality, worthy of highest appreciation within these collector circles.

TECHNICALS