Our marquee release of the year is a vintage 25-year-old Bulang Ripe PuErh made from 140-year-old trees. Peerless in its buttery and smooth texture with a vintage taste of Guinness and chocolate cake, leather, antique woods, apples and grenadine.
Stumbling on this precious batch of tea was a delightful moment for me back in 2023. It came out of the blue from a scout in Xiamen (not Yunnan) who specialises in finding us Yancha so I was not expecting an amazing PuErh tea.
One session and I was on the phone immediately to secure the tea (without knowing anything about it since I always taste blind).
Finding a Ripe Tea made from ancient trees (estimated 140 years) is relatively unusual and it is even more scarce for old tree PuErh tea to be made from Royal Gong Ting style pickings. But the uniqueness of this tea does not end there!
This tea was kept loose for 25 years in Menghai, giving it over two decades to relinquish any mustiness and build richness, maturity and smooth-sipping magnificence.
So, we have 25-year-old vintage Ripe PuErh from one of the greatest mountain ranges in the tea world (Bulang), made from Royal pickings from near Gushu ancient trees.
Mystic Tree Guardian is therefore a tea which reads like a dream on paper but how does this all convey itself in the experience?
For those that love their Ripe PuErh to be rich and inky black with cavernous depth and a bracing, forest-floor earthiness, this tea will be your perfect brew, but this is just the beginning.
Sitting atop of all of that cellar-like minerality is the next level of some classic Ripe PuErh notes - we have herbal spices like nutmeg, betel nuts and cinnamon and the earthy fruitiness of heirloom apple skins.
This would already be a winning tea, but let's keep going.
Next up we have the bold, vintage taste of antique varnished woods and worn leather.
These blend beautifully into the mature fruitiness of dried cherries, cranberries and grenadine.
The next layer of aromatics that we hit are warm and comforting - vanilla fudge, milky coffee and a huge slab of Guinness and chocolate cake.
And finally, to add air to the dense layers of flavour we have a laundry cotton freshness.
This tea, quite literally has it all - creamy, fruity, mineral, earthy, antique, herbal, starchy and fudgy.
The texture is smooth as silk and has the most extreme butteriness that has me mesmerised at every session.
And before you think that this wil be the perfect late night indulgence, please let me warn you that this tea has a Bulang kick to it which will have you swinging from the rafters if you are not careful.
