2025 Xiang Huo Di Ancient Trees Puerh

FatBat Private Pressing Gushu Raw Puerh

莽枝 香火地 高杆古树

"Xiang Huo Di" is a largely overlooked garden in the 6 Ancient Mountains region that has only begun to gain attention in 2024, as excitement sparked within the Chinese connoisseur circles over the unique character of tea from this terroir. Although we enter these remote groves via the Mang Zhi villages, the terroir here is all its own, elevating the easygoing, fruity-floral personality of Mang Zhi with the absolute purity and refinement of nearby imperial-robed Yibang.

We showcase this grove with a selected-trees picking of only tall-pole gushu varietals, chosen for their delicate flavor and wild profile. We are especially happy with the picking standard for this tea -- a beautiful dark-green leaf, bud-rich. It is a very focused taste profile, but one that has immense complexity given the quality of trees and the terroir.

A superb production for tea drinkers who dream of the wild charm of the 6 Ancient Tea Mountains region and the olden tea routes of Xiang Ming.

TASTING NOTES 

This tea embodies the classic profile of core Mang Zhi gardens with its powerful nectar sweetness, but the deep forest location of these groves adds an almost Yibang-like purity and milkiness. Early steeps open with distinct notes of Jasmine Flower Cream. Very active on the palate and throat, each steep unfolds varying layers. The sweetness intensifies through the session -- pineapples in syrup with a dash of coconut cream. Rich melange of warm baking spices on the finish, the fragrance lingers infinitely, hinting at the substance yet to be revealed with further maturation.

TERROIR 

"Xiang Huo Di", roughly translates to "the place where incense burns" (indicating a place of ancestral/deity worship). Adjacent to Mang Zhi and Ge Deng mountains, it sits in the core area of the 6 Ancient Mountains known historically as Niu Gun Tang (today known as An Le). Geographically this area holds great historical importance for its role in the production and trading of Imperial Tribute tea in the Emperor KangXi period (being one of the 4 main tea trading areas surrounding Xiang Ming).

The grove itself is nestled on the Eastern slope of the ridge and given its distance from the main modern Mang Zhi villages, is today very isolated from human traffic. Here, there are 20 huge 1st grade tall-pole trees (typically made into single tree pickings) and approximately 60+ "regular gao gan" tall-pole gushu in the garden, the latter of which this picking is selected from. Annual tall-pole production volume is small typically producing no more than 60kg finished tea, which is sought after by a very small circle of private buyers.

TECHNICALS