Peerless blend of ancient wild tree White from the hallowed forests of Yiwu combined with old tree Lincang pickings. An assertive and self-assured tea with luxurious softness and a rich palette of flavours.
There are teas which jump out of the cup to wow you with accessible and distinct aromatics and then there are teas like 'Tumbling Forest' that honestly coud not care less about pleasing you.
They are self-assured, authentic, complex and just go ahead and strut their stuff without concern for being liked. Their power is something for you to discern rather than being offered up and they are all the more engaging because of this self-assured confidence.
Tumbling Forest is a madcap blend of pickings usually reserved to make Raw PuErh but processed as a White.
Half of the blend comes from 150 year old trees growing in the Lincang forests of Yong De - an area renowned for making rich and smooth ripe PuErh. But, being from Lincang, the tea has a cheeky little physical bite too.
The other half of the blend is quite unprecedented and sends this tea into the stratosphere.
Yiwu, the queen of PuErh areas, has some very ancient trees including some wild Ye Sheng varieties. We have selected pickings from 300 year old Wild trees to join the party. So these are ancient trees, from wild heirloom varieties growing on one of the most expensive mountain ranges on the planet - then made into a White tea.
OK we are a bit nuts I agree.
The resulting tea is surprising and alluring but, like I say, is in no way trying to please.
Like an arthouse movie that does not give you a classic story structure or cookie-cutter characters but is unique, assured and genuinely mesmerising, leaving you feeling deeply touched without quite knowing how or why - Tumbling Forest is a tea of distinctive character which will enchant the most tuned-in tea drinkers.
None of this is to suggest that the tea is not absoultely delicious or particularly challenging. One look at the tasting notes should make any White tea lover swoon - fruit syrups and pannacotta layer atop forest streams, dark caramel and plum liquor.
It is a wild ride across the full spectrum of classic White tea aromatics - deep, dank, fermented, creamy, fruity, herbaceous and sweet like honey.
The difference is the subtlety and diversity of aromatics which unveil themselves discreetly throughout the tea session. Like forest fairies to be glimpsed only by free yet attentive minds, the aromatics flit and fly in shimmering cameos.
In fact there is an alluring softness to Tumbling Forest. This is partly because of the sweet, nectar quality of Yiwu tea but it is also because of the wild trees.
There is a misconception that wild trees would have a aggressive character (like wild meat that is gamey and pungent). Unlike a domesticated tea variety which has been cultivated for a particular and distinct aroma profile, wild trees are innately varied with gentle and soft defiance producing teas which are hard to pin down because of their rich diversity of naturally subtle layers.
All of this Yiwu, wild softness is pefectly punctuated in the mouth by the Yong De tea which provides zest and structure.
The culmination of the tea experience should always end with a glorious finish and body sensation and this is where Tumbling Forest reveals its assertive character.
The finish is vaporous, mineral and intensely cooling with a pulling physicality that you will leave you pouting in chewy satisfaction.
The body sensation is powerful too - lifting, livening and enlightening with a carefree relinquishing of the worries of the ego.
OK, I hope that you get the idea - Tumbling Forest is a tea with a bold, distinct yet unembellished character and I feel honoured to let it loose into the world of tea lovers.
I cannot fathom how this tea will age. The thought makes me a little giddy and I plan on sipping on it for decades as it becomes an even more rarefied treasure in my collection.
