Shu Longzhu (Sweet Dragon Ball)
Shu Puer Ball 8g 2018
A rich and deep-flavored shu puer that brews clean, sweet and lingering. Made with unusually high-quality tender young leaves from old-growth tea trees to create impressive layered complexity. Hand-rolled into individual 7-8 gram single serving balls for a persistent hearty brew.
- Tea Origin
- Lancang County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China
- Tea Bush
- Yunnan Dayezhong (Yunnan Large Leaf Heirloom Tea Tree)
- Tea Maker
- Chen Keke and Li Dong
- Harvest Time
- Early April
- Plucking Standard
- One bud, two leaves
A rich and deep-flavored shu puer that brews clean, sweet and lingering. Made with unusually high-quality tender young leaves from old-growth tea trees to create impressive layered complexity. Hand-rolled into individual 7-8 gram single serving balls for a persistent hearty brew.
This shu puer tea also comes in loose-leaf form as Shanye Tian (Woodland). The shu puer cake Cha Tao (Aged Old Tree) is made by the same unique small-batch method with leaves from a different origin.
Managing the risks and rewards of shu puer
Sweet Dragon Ball is a high-quality shu puer tea made with unusually good leaf material. Normally, the ripening process that gives shu puer its darkness and smoothness is risky because it is difficult to control the microbial growth as the piled leaves ripen. Rather than risk ruining expensive tea leaves, tea used to reserve them for unripened sheng puer cakes. However, after three years of research developing and refining a new small-batch technique, tea makers can now control the ripening process carefully enough to work with higher-quality leaf.
The result is a shu puer that is exceptionally clean and smooth, yet whose flavor retains the deep, layered complexity of a quality sheng puer. Soft sweet and mineral flavors reveal themselves in later infusions.
Unique new small batch processing technique
Normally, making shu puer requires a very large quantity of tea leaves. Depending on the size of the batch being made, producers use 10-20 tons of leaves all piled together. Piling the leaves this way creates heat as the leaves ferment, providing an excellent growing environment for microbes of all kinds. However, the small batch technique used to make Sweet Dragon Ball uses only a few tons of leaves at a time. This way, it is easier to adjust the temperature and moisture levels in the pile and isolate the specific microbes that drive the ripening process.
With this nuanced and precise level of control of their development in the fermenting tea, tea makers can cultivate the beneficial microbes and discourage the growth of those that create unwanted earthy or fishy flavors. This also makes it easier to avoid harboring potentially harmful mold pathogens. Using this method reduces the risk of wasting tea leaves if the ripening process goes awry. It also reduces the proportion of tea in any batch that inevitably becomes over-ripened. Furthermore, this preserves the more subtle flavors and high nutrient levels of the original leaf.
Quality old growth tea trees from a quality origin
Leaves for Sweet Dragon Ball are sourced in the Lancang area in southwestern Yunnan Province. This tea is harvested from trees of varying ages that are on average 60 years old or older. These trees grow under the canopy of Yunnan’s subtropical highland forests in their natural environment. Grown without the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, these trees are largely untended except for minimal maintenance by the local residents.
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.
