Anxi is where time dwells, where the artistic breath of Chinese classicism reverberates among the residues of the cultural revolution along the road that leads to Ganze, with the purplish sunset that adorns the skyscrapers of Quanzhou behind it. The landscape alternates the expressive intensity of nature with the works of human activity; where the army of the people’s republic marched during the liberation of Anxi in 1949 you can see tea gardens, a centenary amphitheater of ideological and cultural battles.
Since after the great economic growth of the 90s which saw Anxi become one of the richest counties in China, a progressive phase of contraction in demand has begun since 2010. The Tieguanyin which for years has driven the progress of transforming oolongs has ended up giving way to instrumental and utilitarian dynamics, a tea drunk mainly by automatism, the soulless product of a feeling which in recent decades has forced nature to simply bend to a condition of predictability and mere manipulability.
It is also for this reason that the search for truth has led many producers to detach themselves from this vision by taking up artisanal production methods, rational agronomic management, rediscovering the sense of truth through what existed before this condition, reconstituting a state in which they could have expressive freedom through their product in an era where the flattening of images and mere technical reproducibility are rampant everywhere. True lao tie 老铁 is a rare tea, it often represents a family stock or a tea that was posthumously sold in limited quantities to compensate for the decrease in sales in certain periods.
This old artisan nongxiang comes from a small batch, from leaves harvested in Anxi in 2005. The typical fruity profile emerges from the first infusion, you are enveloped in aromas of roasting and dried fruit, hazelnut, jujube, raisins, dehydrated prunes and walnuts.
The olfactory complexity then unfolds on scents of orchid and osmanthus, sweeter nuances of caramelized sugar, raisin wine and panettone. Towards the third infusion, citrus notes, fragrances of ancient wood, balsamic hints and macerated wild herbs appear. The sip is fluid, sweet, of medium softness. The texture is subtle and elegant, the slight acidity invites you to take the next sip while aromas of plum and flowers persist in the mouth wrapped in an incessant and palpable sweetness.
Wild Harvested 