2025 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless Red Label" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake

Meet the 2025 Peerless Red Label, a purposeful blend marrying Yi Wu’s round, honeyed sweetness with Bulang’s depth and backbone. Built from select ripe pu-erh lots (crafted first as mao cha, then wet-piled/wo dui in the classic Menghai tradition) and pressed into 357 g cakes with artwork by Benjamin Denkert. Red Label is tuned for a touch less bitterness than Gold Label, with a thick, sweet fruit counterpoint that blooms as the cup cools.

This year we made two Peerless blends!

• Gold Label: more dark-chocolate drive with a sweet after-finish.
  
• Red Label: a touch less bitter, with a thick, sweet fruit counterpoint.
  Both are designed to deepen in complexity as they age.

In Summary

• Name: 2025 “Peerless Red Label” Ripe Pu-erh (Shou)

• Blend: Yi Wu & Bulang

• Process: Mao cha → wo dui (wet-piled) → pressed (2025)

• Profile: Less bitter than Gold Label; thick, sweet fruit core; cocoa in support

• Net weight: 357 grams per cake

• Wrapper: Benjamin Denkert

In short: A plush, fruit-forward Peerless Red Label, Yi Wu sweetness meeting Bulang depth, delivering a thick, soupy body, gentle bitterness, and a long, sweet aftertaste that will only get more harmonious with time.

Here's a list of the previously released Peerless pressings:

• 2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
• 2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Bronze Label Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
• 2021 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless Red Label" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
• 2022 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
• 2023 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
• 2024 Yunnan Sourcing "Peerless" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake

This tea has been tested in a certified laboratory for 404 pesticides, and is within the EU MRL limits set for those 404 pesticide residues. For a full list of the 404 pesticides we tested for and more information about MRL testing and the EU Food and Safety commission click on this link.