THNG024 - Hongtupo Qiaomu Hongcha 2025

Product detailed description

Fresh Yunnan Red Tea from Hongtupo village (红土坡) at Mangzhi Tea Mountain (莽枝山). Tea was harvested and compressed in Spring 2025. Hongtupo village is located approximately 25 km (aerial view) from Xiangming town (象明乡), an important transportation hub between Mangzhi (莽枝), Yibang (倚邦) and Manzhuan (蛮专) Ancient Tea Mountains in Mengla County (勐腊县). The tea leaves come from mature tea trees (qiaomu 桥木), which were collected across Jiabu tea gardens at the elevation about 1300-1500 m.a.s.l. Unlike the Yiwu Qiaomu Hongcha 2024, this tea was harvested during the first Spring harvest in 2025 (Touchun 头春), which is even more precious, sweeter and more complex. The blue cover with two white water serpents (Naga 那伽) refers to beginning of our love story in Xishuangbanna, when Richard was doing his PhD research on the Lancang-Mekong River (澜沧江湄公河) since 2016, an important international river flowing from Himalayas (Qinghai Province 青海省) to Mekong Delta in Vietnam. 

The tea was generously provided by Zhoujie and Mengmeng (FM-01), tea producers living in Jiabu village (架布) at Yibang Tea Mountain (倚邦山) who source their teas from Six Ancient Tea Mountains (Guliudachashan 古六大茶山). During our work trip to Xishuangbanna at the beginning of 2025, we spent quite a lot of time travelling and exploring several tea gardens and tasting various teas from the Mengla area (勐腊). 

Aroma:

• Wet + dry leaf (Shicha 湿茶 + Gancha 干茶) - fruity fragrance with floral tones
• Cup aroma imprint (Guabeixiang 挂杯香) - noticable tones of sweet pastry and honey
  

Color:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - transparent bright orange-ochre shades
• Development phase (> 5 infusions) - darker ochre-honey shades

Taste:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - fruity lemonades (cherries, raspberries, gooseberries, mulberry) with tones of liquid honey
• Advanced phase (> 5 infusions) - sweet citruses (lime) with tones of sweet pastry and tropical lilies
  

Body: 

• Thickness (Naipao 耐泡) - solid vitality, which will allow you to make more infusions
• Texture (Chunhounongyu 醇厚浓郁) - thick and complex character (ideal for work or travelling)
• Astringency (Se 涩) - none
• Character (Kutianjiaozhi 苦甜交织) - similarly like other teas from Mangzhi Mountain, this tea rapidly brings intense sweeteness and provides different degrees of delicate exotic flowers, sour stonefruits and honey (character of the Mangzhi Mountain)
• Balance (Zonghe pinghengdu 综合平衡度) - differences between particular layers of flavours are gradual and symmetrical (i.e. no suprise changes in between the infusions)

Aftertaste:

• Sweetness (Huigan 回甘) - strong and intense sweeteness within hours
• Mouthful feeling (Shengjin 生津) - intense mouth-water-feeling within hours
• Energy feeling (Nenglianggan 能量感) - noticable warming and boosting effect within hours