TSNG078 - Yibang Maoerduo Gushu Shengcha 2024

Product detailed description

Fresh sheng puer from Yibang Tea Mountain (倚邦山). Tea was harvested in Spring 2024 and compressed in Autumn 2025. Yibang Tea Mountain is third largest tea mountain (360 km²) in Mengla County (勐腊县), where more than 12.000 people lives (2019). The tea leaves come from ancient tea trees (gushu 古树) from small-tea leaf type (xiaoyezhong 小叶种), one of the ultra-rare tea material with exceptionally smooth taste that can be mainly found at Yibang Tea Mountain area. The tea leaves were carefully selected and collected across Yibang tea gardens at the elevation about 1300-1400 m.a.s.l. The cover has minimalistic design with a reference on joyful red pandas living in Yunnan province that may naturally stick to you heart and the name of tea material in Chinese characters (Maoerduo 猫耳朵), a local name for the Yibang small-tea leaf type also known as "kitten ears".

The tea was generously provided by Liang, a certified tea master (2013, Shenzhen), senior tea mentor and lecturer at Xishuangbanna Jinlanling Vocational Training School (西双版纳金蓝领职业培训学校) since 2019 who source her teas across twelve tea mountains within Xishuangbanna. During our work trip to Xishuangbanna at the beginning of 2025, we spent quite a lot of time tasting, testing and consulting various aspects of local teas. Additionally, we conducted several interviews with her and discussed contemporary trends in Xishuangbanna tea industry. 

Aroma:

• Wet + dry leaf (Shicha 湿茶 + Gancha 干茶) - sweet pastry and honey tones
• Cup aroma imprint (Guabeixiang 挂杯香) - floral nectar and nutty tones

Color:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - transparent yellow-bronze shades
• Development phase (> 5 infusions) - brighter golden shades

Taste:

• Initial phase (< 5 infusions) - fruity syrups (citruses and forest berries) and creamy pastry (cupcakes and macarons) with subtle nutty and honey tones
• Advanced phase (> 5 infusions) - tropical flowers, fruity candies (bonpari) with fresh cut wood tones and light sweet musk aftertones
  

Body: 

• Thickness (Naipao 耐泡) - solid vitality, which will allow you to make more infusions
• Texture (Chunhounongyu 醇厚浓郁) - super smooth and very delicate layers
• Astringency (Se 涩) - none
• Character (Kutianjiaozhi 苦甜交织) - similarly like other teas from Ybang Mountain, this tea rapidly brings intense sweeteness and provides different degrees of exotic flowers, stonefruits and honey (character of the Yibang Mountain). Small tea-leaf type (xiaoyezhong 小叶种) is very rare tea material in Xishuangbanna and can be predominantly found in Yibang area. Unlike the regular large tea-leaf type (dayezhong 大叶种), this tea has much smoother, juicier and richer body, which provides a new level of tea experience, which is especially suitable especially for highly demanding tea lovers.
• 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 boosting, cooling and refreshing effect within hours