Highlights:
- 100% pure Big extra tall (gaogan) ancient trees
- 100% first spring pick
- Core area of Tianmenshan
- Intense sweetness, aroma, texture
- Strong everywhere-in-the-mouth aftertaste
- Really strong grounding Qi
This tea is the reason so many experts love TianMenShan most of all: an incredibly mouth coating and yet smooth tea combining the best of Yiwu and Menghai/Banzhang, and this trees are as good as it gets for an ancient tree production.
Unlike the 2022 Gold Mark TianMenShan, this tea is from bigger extra tall trees and from the core area, has a concentrated power and intensity that’s much more developed by the 4 year aging but it really “conquers your mouth” (and mind!), as the Chinese say.
The taste lingers the mouth well after each cup and the durability is evident. Powerful yet comfortable Qi penetrates the whole body and remains noticeable throughout the day. The 3 extra years of aging compared to our 2025 Benchmark level TianMenShan make it even more satisfying to drink, more resolved and round, while turning the Qi from very strong into really strongly calming.
While this can be easily appreciated by beginners, long term ancient tree puerh seekers would be impressed by the forest strength, Qi and absurd density and depth of this tea, together with its well aged ’roundedness’. Personally, I was rendered speechless by drinking it with its particularly strong grounding Qi and perfect taste profile.
Review for 2025 TianMenShan Extra Tall Ancient Trees:
“Just over 3g of tea in a small gaiwan yielded a very satisfying session, with a strong qi becoming almost immediately apparent and persisting through the session. The nose and palate are also characterful and substantial, with sweetness and bitterness at a fine balance. The tea leaves long resonances both during pauses in the session and for a long while afterwards. The best tea I’ve tasted? Score 19+/20″
Reviews for 2024 TianMenShan Single Extra Tall Ancient Tree:
“Warning- do not drink this tea if you plan to accomplish anything and if you don’t have at least an hour to savor the nuances of this wonderful tea. The qi is downright narcotic and the huigan and overall thickness may be the best I’ve encountered in young tea. Expect at least 15 steeps even when pushed hard big foresty notes reminiscent of the finest WanGong…Give me this over LBZ any day. In fact next to Mansong or possibly Bohetang or Kunlu gushu I can’t think of a better young tea I’ve tried. If you love Yiwu or think you don’t, you should try this tea.”
“The tea is smooth at entry, has no astringency, bitterness is hidden, the tea is mouth coating, leaving a long lingering flavour, and the aromatics are fruity. It’s a powerfully grounding tea, immensely calming. Meditative.“
How old are these trees?
All tree ages are approximations, and one should always doubt when an age is given as a single number. There are no certain scientific methods to identify the age of a tea tree. The only possible way to tell how old (and healthy) a certain tree is is by drinking its leaves and comparing it to its neighbours: the older the tree is, the thicker the soup and the more comfortable the ChaQi and your body in general.
The consensus among the most reliable tea experts about the age of the oldest standard puerh varietal trees in Yiwu/6 Famous mountains tea area is approx. 500-800 years. However people, even experts, have very different opinions about what age of tree is in a specific area.
So there always is uncertainty in this topic and we won’t pretend otherwise, we simply say: If you or your favourite expert think there are 500+ years old in Yiwu/Manzhuan, this is one such tree. This is type 1 gushu, the best category of ancient tree available in the area. Best largely means oldest, but healthiest/biggest is also very important.
You can find more details about reference tree ages on the Benchmark ancient tree introduction under “Age of trees”.
Puerh.uk Benchmark Ancient Tree Series Introduction
- The best possible ancient tree tea that can be obtained in a given specific garden
- Our most significant contribution to making available a type of puerh that was not available before
- Super strict quality criteria (standard puerh varietal only, classic puerh areas only, 1st spring pick, extremely clean environment, ancient trees that have never been cut, healthiest and biggest trees only chosen for single trees production)
The best tea is not for sale, it’s available only through relationships. Tier 5 is about 0.01% of available Puerh, with ancient tree leaves only with all taste qualities present in overwhelming amount, tea that is basically only found in elite asian circles and via private connections.
Benchmark ancient tree Puerh is a subset of Tier 5, and particularly means: this is highest expression of ancient tree puerh from a specific garden, so it can be used as “benchmark” to tell whether other puerh is truly ancient tree or not.
Puerh of this quality has never been made before in history (only in the last 10 years), this is the most exciting frontier of tea at the moment as far as we’re concerned. Please see the full Benchmark ancient tree introduction page for more info.
30g ceramic jars (a bit more than 1oz) containing chunks of cake.
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