A really small batch tea sourced from the ancient forest conservation base of the Gushu Institute in Yunnan. I recommend grabbing this little fella while it is available as we have less than 200 cakes of this Yiwu available.
Yiwu is a revered area of Yunnan and specialises in producing top shelf, traditionally handmade raw PuErh. Anyone with the slightest interest in PuErh should know about this area as it carries with it a very high reputation (it is known as the Queen of PuErh with Lao Banzhang being called the King).
Yiwu sits on the Eastern most part of the southern tip of Yunnan very close to the Laos border. It comprises 6 large mountainous areas all with their own villages. The most easterly of these areas is called Yiwu (yes there is a 'Yiwu' in Yiwu) which is the origin of the 'Tipple Twister'.
The characteristics of Yiwu PuErh are teas with very low bitterness which are soft, thick and easy drinking and have a predominance of high, fruity aromas. Yiwu's are often described as prune tasting, especially when aged properly. But, because the area of Yiwu is very large and even tea from outside Yiwu is often faked to increase the price tag, finding an authentic ancient tea Yiwu can be challenging. We have tasted many Yiwu's over the years but for one reason or another we have never purchased any - the taste did not match the price or we could not verify the origin.
The 'Tipple Twister' is a tea that we bought the moment we tasted it because it was so unique - the botanicals and zest dances over the warmer, creamier notes and the aftertaste is sweet and citrusy. It will be really fascinating to find out how this tea changes over the years and we are definitely going to hoard a few for ageing.
NO TASTERS AVAILABLE: Due to the amount of waste when breaking into these 100g cakes (we do not give Beengholes as tasters) and the limited quantity available, we are not offering tasters of this tea.