2025 Yunnan Sourcing "Suan Zao Shu" Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

Suan Zao Shu village is one of the most remote villages in the Jinggu area, taking nearly 2 hours from Jinggu town to arrive there. The winding dirt roads stop about 5 kilometers before you arrive and the remaining distance must be traversed by foot. Suan Zao Shu village lies at an altitude of 1800 meters and is home to tea trees ranging in age from 50 years up to 400 years. Our Suan Zao Shu tea cake is made from tea leaves harvested from 200-300 year old tea trees in the Li family tea garden.

Suan Zao Shu tea is very strong in flavor, aroma and cha qi. The flavor is that of fruit with a honey-like sweetness and a touch of sour, as well as having a bitter and savory edge as well that adds to its depth. The aroma is hard to describe, brothy and mushroom-like. This tea has a very strong mouth-feel, returning taste (hui gan) and the cha qi is a bit stupefying (in a good way). The brewed leaves are mostly dark olive in color, large (in scale), thick and stout stemmed.

In Summary

• Caffeine: Medium

• Storage & aging: Store cool, dry, odor-free, away from light; allow normal airflow. This cake is poised for steady development over 3–10+ years as bitterness mellows and honey/jujube deepen.

• Region: Suan Zao Shu Village, Jinggu (1,800 meters)

• Trees: 200–300-year-old old-arbor (Li family)

• Harvest: April 2025

• Process: Traditional sheng; stone-pressed

• Net weight: 250 g per cake (7 cakes per tong)

• Production: 60 kg total (240 cakes)

• Wrapper: Artwork by Elena Marie Honzáková

In short: A remote-mountain, old-arbor Suan Zao Shu sheng with honeyed fruit and meadow sweetness over savory–brothy aromatics, tidy green bitterness, and a long, cooling hui-gan with commanding cha qi, stone-pressed and produced in tiny quantity.