C. makuanica Sheng – Maguan Tea – 2022 Handmade Yunnan High Mountain Raw Pu’er Tea from ancient trees

• dry tea strip is tight and heavy, covered with white hair, lustrous silvery green
• tea soup is yellow, clear and bright
• tea taste is brisk, fresh and mellow, sweet aftertaste
• clean and high fragrance
• wet tea is fat and thick

Introduction:

Maguan tea, Camellia makuanica Chang et Tang, produced in Maguan, Yunnan Province, is a kind of camellia plant. It can be made into tea. Maguan tea grows in the mountain sparse forest at an altitude of 1720 meters. Tea likes to grow in subtropical and tropical areas. The climate type of Maguan County is across north tropics, south subtropics, middle subtropics and North subtropics, which is suitable for tea growth.

Pu’er 普洱 [pǔ ěr] tea has also been lauded as the “drinkable antique”. The flavor and color of raw Pu’er Tea changes when properly stored over a period of time. Young raw Pu’er: The ideal liquors should be aromatic with a light but distinct odours of camphor, rich herbal notes like Chinese medicine, fragrance floral notes, hints of dried fruit aromas such as preserved plums, and should exhibit only some grassy notes. Young raw Pu’er may sometimes be quite bitter and astringent, but should also exhibit a pleasant mouthfeel and “sweet” aftertaste, referred to as gān (甘) and húigān(回甘).

The kind of teas could be called High Mountian Tea 高山茶, the tea fields’ height above sea level must be higher than 800 meters. Comparing with other teas growing at lower see levels, high mountian teas are much more special: first, high mountian tea’s tastes are more clear and sweet, because of strong root systems, high mountain tea plants could absorb more mineral substances and nutrients; Second, high mountian tea’s textures are more smooth and soft, since high mountains surround all the year round with cloud and mist, high humidities, rich diffusion lights and big differences in temperature between the day and the night are optimal for tea plants to produce some desirable compounds; Third, high mountian tea’s liquid is more clear and bright, because lights on high mountains are mainly blue-purple lights, which could restrain undesirable compounds to produce; Fourth, high mountian green tea‘s fragrances are much higher, longer daylight hours and relative lower temperatures are good for fresh leaves to produce aromatic compounds.