Highlights:
- 100% pure extra-tall pole (15 meters+) ancient trees (only the oldest trees)
- Maximum tree estimated age: 500 years (see below “How old are these trees?” for more info)
- Pure forest taste, smooth and elegant
- Long and rich aftertaste
- Lively and vibrant but deeply calming Qi
- 100% 1st spring pick, picked once a year only
Yiwu WanGong, and particularly its extra tall (gaogan) ancient trees found at higher elevations became famous for having both a very smooth profile (low astringency, very elegant) and a great texture, richness and a profound calming and enlivening Qi. This combination is actually near unique in Puerh, to get tea so smooth one has to go north to very high elevation Lincang, but then the texture and richness are really not the same. Conversely, a lot of terroirs in Yiwu and even Banna share the same texture and richness, but they’re not quite as smooth.
But there’s a big problem: most of Wangong is terribly overpicked. It’s been more than 15 years now that the terroir is famous and the trees are tired of being picked 3 times a year (or even more in famous areas like BoHeTang 4-5 times), they lost their powerful forest strength and density, and while they often remain smooth, the strength just isn’t quite what it used to be. A lot of the terroir is a shadow of its former self.
Thankfully there are still a few pristine areas where teas have not yet been overpicked, especially on the border between Yiwu and Laos, which is where this brilliant tea comes from: the top quality standard for WanGong, with gaogan ancient trees picked just once a year.
We wanted to preserve the real WanGong character before it’s completely lost to time: this tea is the Original Wangong taste (thick, rich, dense, pure and smooth, with forest strength) and Qi (beautifully clean and pure, giving the subtle happy-perfect feeling).
A lot of people (we included) maintain that Yiwu is the heart of Puerh, and the Yiwu GuoYouLin and WanGong in particular is Yiwu’s heart, so this is a very important effort and tea, it’s our pleasure to share it with you (at least until non-overpicked WanGong is still available).
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 is over 500 years (some people say less or more than this too). 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, these are such trees. These are genuine first grade ancient tree and accordingly this is one the very best available trees 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 the top section 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, 200g cakes.
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