Gongting (Palace Puer)
Shu Puer Cake 100g 2016
A rare high quality shu puer cake made with very young tea buds and tender leaves from mature forest tea trees. This tea’s mature tree source and careful processing result in a clean and distinctively woody character. Its deep and savory flavors are persistent and lingering.
Available at a discount when you buy a full stack of 5 cakes (details below).
$35.00
13 in stock
- 2012 $22.50
- Tea Origin
- Lancang County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China
- Tea Bush
- Yunnan Dayezhong (Yunnan Large Leaf Tea Tree)
- Tea Maker
- Chen Keke and Li Dong
- Harvest Time
- March-April
- Plucking Standard
- One bud, two leaves
A rare high quality shu puer cake made with very young tea buds and tender leaves from mature forest tea trees. Instead of becoming heavy and earthy, this tea’s old growth tea tree source and careful processing result in a clean and distinctively woody character. Its deep and savory flavors are persistent and lingering. Compared to large leaf shu puers, this Palace Puer has more pronounced notes of lotus leaf and a mint-like cooling sensation. Great for drinking or for storing and aging.
High quality leaf and skilled shu puer processing
‘Palace’ grade young tea buds and leaves like these used to be reserved for tribute teas for the imperial court. It’s unusual to find shu puer tea made from mature forest tea trees, since such high quality leaf material like this is usually saved for making into into sheng puer. As 95% of tea produced in Yunnan Province comes from terrace tea plantations with younger plants, it is in short supply.
While higher quality, forest grown tea plants have a lower yield than terrace tea. In addition, the complicated process of ripening raw puer mao cha into shu puer both takes a large quantity of material and runs the risk of ruining a batch if not carefully controlled. It takes a highly experienced tea master and processing team to keep fluctuating temperature and moisture conditions just right to develop the best character in the tea.
No chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or herbicide was used in the production of this tea. Click here to read more about our promise to fair trade and the environment.
Total cake weight may vary due to the gradual moisture loss with aging.
Full Stack Discount
This puer cake traditionally comes in a stacked tong of 5 cakes tightly wrapped in bamboo for transport and storage. If you’re looking to buy in bulk, tongs of Gongting (Palace Puer) are available to you at a 5% discount in their original bamboo packaging. To get this full tong discount, add the five (5) Gongting cakes to your cart, then click the 5% discount coupon that appears on the bottom of the cart page (or the top of the checkout page).
The bamboo wrapping of the tong protects the tea cakes from breakage and insulates them from external odors and excess moisture while remaining breathable. To open a tong, untuck the ends of each individual bamboo tie from the loop below it, then untwist the two ends from each other. The single knot in the tie can then be undone. Then it will easily loosen and come unwound from the tong. Your individually paper-wrapped puer cakes will be inside.
