2024 Yiwu - Jin Chang He (Farmer Series) Puerh

FatBat Private Pressing Raw Puerh

金厂河

FatBat’s new Farmer Series allows us to share teas we come across in our travels that we find interesting and representative of a region, direct from the farmers’ hands themselves.

The village of Jin Chang He lies in Yao tribal lands of southern Yiwu, neighboring the more renowned Tong Qing He region. Like its famous neighbor, it is known for producing tea with a certain level of aggression and weight (relative to most softer, sweeter Yiwu teas), while exhibiting a powerful, intense character of “wildness”. This wild character stems from the remoteness of these groves, the lack of human presence and the perfectly preserved ecology of the area.

The Yao families are known for managing their lands in a more “natural”, low-intervention manner. Trees are seldom over-picked (perhaps also a consequence of their tea gardens being very remote from their villages) and agrochemicals almost never used. The fresh leaf from Yao lands are regarded as some of the best in Yiwu. However, their processing methods sometimes tend towards the rustic, so careful selection of finished maocha is essential.

This tea was entirely picked and processed by the Deng family (after sampling countless bags of maocha, we eventually selected a batch from trees owned by Brother Deng’s elder sister). It is a seemingly uncomplicated tea, with an intensity of tangy-sweetness, a shadow of underlying bitter orange-rind and an astringency that fades quickly. Despite the rustic processing, the quality of the base material and untainted environment shows through in the purity of flavor and persistent sweetness.

A great chance to experience this lesser known, obscure region of Yiwu. This robust, exciting tea is ready to enjoy now, but will show a more genteel character with age. We suggest picking up a tong for the long run.

A NOTE ON OUR FARMER SERIES

While we typically obsess over controlling the processing of our own teas, or the purity of gushu pickings, we occasionally come across some impressive examples of farmer-processed maocha. These are teas we will offer in our newly launched Farmer Series. The material may be burly, or the processing slightly rustic, but these are the best examples of the tea we drink in the mountains, in the homes of the farmers we meet. It is the closest we can take you to the villages in the ancient tea mountains themselves.

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