Tag: lincang

Unbound by fragrance – The tea of Ba Nuo through a 2022 teng tiao gushu

In recent years I have repeatedly had the pleasure of trying Ba Nuo teas, it is one of the places that perhaps more than others has taught me to free myself from the “aromatic” dimension of tea and to concentrate on the sip, on the tactile sensations, on the physicality of the brew.

Ba Nuo is a village accessible via narrow, dirt roads, you can still see the old houses, some with sheet metal roofs, flanked by other newer and larger ones, the result of overbuilding and the rush to compulsive urbanism that followed the economic growth of the tea villages.
Ba Nuo is located at 1900 meters above sea level, located on the eastern mountain range of Mengku, Dong Ban Shan, populated by around 300 families of the Han and Lahu ethnic groups, practically all of whom work in the tea industry. From the top you can see the villages on the western side, the Xi Ban Shan range, Dong Guo, Xiao Hu Sai, Da Hu Sai, Baka, as if immersed in a Bierstadt painting.

The soils contain a good amount of clay and organic matter, are acidic or sub-acid, with no stones on the surface, but what is striking are the Teng Tiao, also called “vine trees”, which appear like bony and lignified hands dating back to soil, without other plants to counteract them. Pruning the lateral branches favors the apical dominance of the plant, which will develop very elongated branching and leaves placed only on the tips.

Yang, a farmer from Ba Nuo, explained to me how it is not a natural way of cultivation, the land has been prepared, even weeded up to 15 years ago, the surrounding forest has been partly cut down to allow the tea trees to receive more light. Many trees were planted by the Lahu people as early as 300 years ago but the influence of the Han and modernization over time led to the development of this type of cultivation.

Despite the altitude, the agronomic peculiarities, it is not a tea that impresses with its aromas, it is not a complacent palliative for the slaves of fragrance. It took me five months to revisit this tea, perhaps among the most misunderstood in Yunnan, but also one of the most particular.

This Teasenz sheng was harvested in spring 2022 from teng tiao gushu, after being aged 7 months as maocha. I waited 5 months before trying it again, stored at 65% RH, slightly lower than what I store my teas at (68-69% RH).
Timidly the leaves began to advance notes of orchid, dandelion root, wood and toasted cereals. The sip was soft, with aromas of honey, chrysanthemum, apricot, but where it really struck was the qi. It wasn’t a sip that simply came and went, but it came again and again, it continually returned after each infusion and continued even far from the cup, the huigan accentuated the honeyed sweetness even more, surrounded by a light minerality that made the sip every time more pleasant.

7 July 2024
Finesse as redemption for Fengqing pu’er. Xiangzhuqing gushu sheng pu 2019 by Li Yu Lu

Hiking in Fengqing it is impossible not to arrive at what is perhaps the oldest tea tree in the world after drinking liters of that Fengqing 58 which is served in every single restaurant in the prefecture. But climbing higher up, towards 2000 meters beyond the taidicha and rice fields that continue northwards, near the villages of Chajia and Hedicun, you arrive at Xiangzhuqing, a small village at the foot of the peak with a fair amount of ancient trees around the village.

The air is cleaner, more humid, the heat stops in the Fengqing lowland and the rains fall timidly on the light sandy-ferrous soils of the mountain.
The extensive drainage, the scarcity of nutrients towards the surface layer creates a clear distinction with Mengku trees, environment and in the concentration of biocomponents in tea leaves.

Although it is assumed to be the same variety, Xiangzhuqing pu’er are lighter, floral and with almost no astringency and bitterness. They essentially seem like the less hypochondriac counterpart of some Yiwu teas on the Gaoshan side.

Encountering this 2019 gushu sheng from Mr. Li Yu Lu is a direct response to the arrhythmic advancement of Fengqing pu’er onto the market; fine, delicate teas that showcase Lincang in a new, renewed light.

The wet leaves seem to revive memories of a hot summer, with notes of persimmon, papaya, orange peel, in which balsamic tones and nuances of peach toffee candy, green melon, hay and dried apple alternate composedly. They are counterbalanced by floral hints of osmanthus, elderberry and scents of a walk in a freshly mown lavender field. More sharp fragrances emerge later such as rubber tree, juniper and black pepper.

The sip is at times monotonous but enlivened by a pleasant mineral verve, it is sugary, medium-bodied with a typical absence of astringency and bitterness, ending on juicy aromas of persimmon, mango jam and elderberry.

17 December 2023
The primordial essence of Da Xue Shan in YongDe County

he subtropical scenery of the Nanting River, from the foot of the mountain to the northern view of the main peak, seems to capture all the splendor of the world. Daxue rises to over 3,400 meters, opposite the other peak of the Nu mountain range, Xiaoxueshan.

Karst severity alternates with the chromatism of the tropical forest of broad-leaved trees, water and land, peaks and plains create an antithetical contrast. It is said that a mountain has 4 seasons but thousands of different skies, and in Daxue there is nothing more true.
Primordial colourism is the home of the black crested gibbon, the beauty and brilliance of wild flowers interrupts the immensity of the mountain, the Wanzhangyan waterfall seems suspended, as if it fell from the sky.

Some families of the valley floor who do not work in large cities graze animals, while others work in small laboratories that produce Mangtuan paper, a tissue paper with a history of over 600 years made by hand from a bark called Maisha in the Dai language, for centuries used to transcribe Buddhist scriptures, books and packaging. Still others are dedicated to the collection of tea leaves and of the rare fruit varieties of the county such as Xiaomengtong pears, Mengdi litchi, Minglang papayas and Yongkang mango.

The tea of Daxue, like its places, is addressed to the taster as a sincere lyric does with its auditorium, the distilled essence of a place is poured into our body giving it back its life while sweetness refluxes like childhood memories. His tea has quenched the thirst of poets and workers, revives memories of distant and primitive places as well as those of a work of art on a ceramic.

Tea like those of Da Xue Shan are invested with a symbolic charge like few others, labaro of radical changes and that rise and fall from one existential plan to another that nothing is but the path of a rational being. Tea appropriates human nuances and analogies without resorting to forced anthropomorphism, it is imbued with a meaning that we ourselves put on it, it represents a momentary suspension where the ego meets in the cup its reflection.

19 August 2023
Xigui, the other side of Bangdong

After talking about Mangfei, Yongde county, we travel along the G323 in a 2-hour journey through the pre-Western architecture of Heping village, passing Bangdong gardens, leaving Mangmai until we enter the wild forest to reach Xigui, the last village of the west bank of Lancangjiang.

The roads are unpaved and where it meets the asphalt this is covered with a patina of red clay dust, the architecture underlines the rural context and the mere functionality of the buildings. Tea plants define the extra-urban landscape sloping down to the river that separates them from the Xiushai forest on the opposite bank. Here the inhabitants catch the fish and take it to the local inn, while on the other side the foragers with weathered faces give no rest, they welcome the leaves between their rough palms with their shoulders anteroverted in their cotton shirts, with arched backs, bent by the severity of the years. They are intent on collecting the material of that mountain, between 700 and 1400 meters, and working it until the sun goes down, until it sets in Lancang and the river bank disappears, so that space and time in Xigui appear in their absolute.

The varieties are mainly Bangdong large-leaf and medium-leaf, with some small-leaf tree, which is a big difference from other Lincang teas. The forest, the plateau and the currents of Lancangjiang isolate the pedoclimatic context from the rest of the Linxiang district, making this tea unique.

The 2007 Xigui pu from Zhaozhou comes from 200 year-old trees, which is almost the maximum age found in this area, and it is a tea that perfectly translates the character of this terroir, with its slopes, the soil rich in organic matter, the temperature range, the different biotypes. It denotes a composed exuberance rounded off by the years of aging, a sweetness that sets a soliloquy in a sensorial harmony where little space is given to bitterness and astringency, and like a good Xigui it shows a wild aromatic complexity that contrasts with an elegant and refined olfactory bouquet.

The wet leaves range from apricot jam to spices, reminiscent of nectarine peach, petrichor, medicinal herbs, leather. Accompanies a light note of camphor, followed by vanilla, mineral fragrances, sandalwood, undergrowth, orchard, acacia’s honey, mushrooms and black pepper. The orange liqueur appears dense already to the eye, in the mouth it is round and less multidimensional than other Xigui, the sweetness takes over almost immediately, a characteristic also provided by the 15 years of refinement. The sip is syrupy, dense, enveloping, with sweet and fruity aromas, with jasmine and herbs flavors. The sweetness re-emerges wrapped in citrus notes while the qi is precocious and invigorating.

18 August 2023
Geography of Mengku, a bit of history of the Shuangjiang factory and an excellent pu’er

Yunnan’s soil is complex, as is the climate in its multidimensionality. In a single region we find a tropical climate or a mountain one, in the chromatism that envelops the observer, the eyes find both rest and the neurasthenia of the course of nature in a landscape that seems to be the meeting place between Cuyp’s Flemish vedutism painting and the almost brittle and super-ideal accuracy of Xiang Shengmo.

But it is where this takes place in its verticality that we find the remnants of the history of the camellia, in the 18 villages between the peaks of Ma’an and Bangma, respectively east and west of the Nanmeng River.
In the Middle Eastern areas we find the villages of Mangbeng, Banuo, Najiao, Bangdu, Nasai (including Zhengqitang and Xiaocun), Donglai, Manna and Chengzi; while in the mid-western area are included the villages of Bingdao, Baka, Tanguo, Dahusai, Gongnong, Banggai, Bingshan, Hudong, Daxueshan and Xiaohusai.

It is mainly in the latter area that much of the material of the Shuangjiang factory of Mengku is concentrated, a company of the Rong family founded in 1993 but whose first generation dates back to 1935. Much of the material comes from the mountainous area of Mengku, especially from Daxueshan and Bingdao of which this factory was one of the forerunners. In 2005 the Rong family used the leaves of Bingdao, especially Laozhai and Nanpo, for the base of their “Mushu cha” which was followed by series dedicated to this area, as well as a lot called “Bingdao Cha” by professor Gao Zhao in 2006.

Since the 1930s, the Shuangjiang factory has always focused on the art of blending, creating a standard of Mengku tea, a character that contrasted with the Yiwu and Bulang teas in the Jianghu of Puer in the early 2000s. The feature of the Mengku blends is that of a suspended cup, a tactile and gustatory return after the liqueur has left the oral cavity, a chewable sweetness that coexists with bitterness, almost creating a receptive antithesis in the same areas of the tongue. They are pleasant teas even in their youth despite their initial roughness, managing to relax elegantly without excessive dissonances in the evolutionary path.

This 2011 pu’er from Shuangjiang factory is made from old trees leaves from different mountains in Mengku. The scents of dry leaves are reminiscent of an old mountain house, made of ancient, damp and slightly moldy wood, it almost recalls the smell of an old leather sofa. The wet leaves bring to mind earthy and woody notes, of wild mushrooms and undergrowth, wet wood and antique furniture. As the infusions pass the water dilutes the strongest odors, bringing back aromas of jujube, camphor, leather and virginia tobacco; it then evolves into a more fruity texture of apricots, stewed apples and madernassa pear poached in wine. The initially primordial and nostalgic character continues in the liqueur, with primarily animal smell on the nose, on the other hand notes of dates, wild oregano and dulsita sugar emerge in the mouth, a sugary sensation increases salivation together with the bitterness that takes possession of the sides and bottom of the tongue. The fruity notes close a complex, intense, soft, persistent and identifying sip.

18 August 2023
Bingdao, its aura, its mysticism. Maybe it’s all undeserved?

The price that Bingdao tea has reached has attracted much attention from Western countries, covering it with that mysticism reserved for the great names in Bordeaux or Burgundy winemaking, an aura that cannot guarantee that the taster’s opinion do not deform in front of it. But what makes Bingdao teas so? Where does the search for truth end in an area that sells the fresh leaves of its gushu at more than 30,000 yuan/kg (2700€/kg) and how can all the tea on the western market present itself as authentic Bingdao tea if is there so small production in certain years and at such crazy prices that even the local merchants give up?

In an objective sense we should look at the aminophenolic ratio, pedogenetic, climatic and altimetric characteristics, as well as the age of the plants. Yet on paper the puer of Bingdao do not win in this respect, which remains only mere conceptualism.
Often, when tea from a certain small production area reaches a certain level of quality, its market valuation gradually has nothing to do with quality. Often the disappointment that accompanies the tasting of sheng pu such as those of Bingdao or Laobanzhang is due to this phenomenon exactly as is the ecstasy that we build inside ourselves when a neurasthenic grimace appears on our face when we realize we have spent a quarter salary in a mediocre tea.
And this is the real focal point.

The tasting of teas such as the sheng of Bingdao, Laobanzhang, Laoman’e, Xigui aggregate the objective with the subjective, the hypothetical and the ideal condition, they are a set of antinomies that cannot be relegated to the simple obsession with categorization.

The dynamism of the market means that when an area is hit by an almost oracular mystification, many resources and capital gather in it. The increased pressure due to a high degree of visibility, the highest attention and the best technical ability will be poured into it, and after its own transitory course, the tea of that area could become one of the best with a high probability.
Why is it just probability? Because this is a simple hypothesis, idealistic and summary.

In support of this I was able to experience how it is impossible to separate pure matter from spiritualism when you are drinking tea, therefore to say that tea is the expression of the earth in the strict sense is as misleading as it is dimensionless, it means making it descend into the order of empiricism by depriving it of its aura.

Rather, tea represents the ground as much as a church bell tower is idealized by the village below, a border traced by our ability to grasp the residue of time, of a people and its spirit, to consecrate it in a higher dimension than a liquid translation of mere immanence. This is because it is what is sacred and immutable that creates a bridge between generations, a stable and lasting relationship between those who have passed away and those who have not yet been born, in that real identity that is independent of the present and the economic value.

Stubbornly objectifying the act of tasting tea like those of Bingdao is like mechanically listening to Strauss’s Metamorphosen without understanding the poignant pity of the loss combined with the fragmentation of the dignity of an entire people. In short words, what can be lost is what is most true and least intelligible.

Don’t get me wrong, quality is an objective datum and as such it must not be exploited or overwhelmed by unreal fairy tales, but relying solely on it one only runs the risk of being disappointed and deprived with an experience that escapes the most cultured languages.

18 August 2023
Cai Mao Xing Jie tea factory Mang Fei sheng pu’er 2017

Yongde county is a mountainous area, rich in forests, where nature seems to have had free will for most of the centuries, slopes and ancient trees surround Mangfeicun protecting it in a landscape and cultural amnioticism. In Yongde county alone there are at least 22 ethnic minorities, many of which are involved in harvesting, curing and processing tea. From the slopes it is possible to see the syncopated, wildly forested scenery that continues to Zhenkang county where history is intertwined with it.
Mangfei’s post-modern puer shows sweeter and more graceful traits, even if the aromatic profile is green and oxidation kept under control, the sip, except in some vintages, is characterized by a greater pleasantness already in the early years, by ease of drinking , elegance and vegetal notes that hardly show that austerity of some young raw Mengku, but rather similar to the thick sip and creamy hints of Xigui puer, albeit with due exceptions.

This 2017 sheng pu is produced by Cai Mao Xing Jie tea factory, probably dry stored; the straw-gold color of the liqueur is typical of the puer of Mangfei area, in which hints of camphor are revealed in the wet leaves, initially balsamic scents, then a subtle smokiness, alcohol macerated fruit, juniper and wild botanicals. The complexity is then revealed under tones of musk and manuka honey and continues consistently to the sip, sweet, fresh, of medium-light astringency, with musky and woody aromas and notes of bitter herbs that appear towards the fourth infusion. Floral, fruity and spicy sensations are contrasted, in an up and down of a sensorial score, where the gloomy taste unfolds on tones of cooked apple, white pepper and juniper before the appearance of creamy notes, of a lemon sablè tarte, of the sweetness that brings a compote of wild strawberries and mint and alpine herb candies. It is a tea with an exuberant qi, a sweet huigan and the continuous placing before and after the threshold of maturity makes it an extremely satisfying tea already in its youth.

18 August 2023