2017 EoT Wuliang Wild

From the same mountain as our “Wuliang H Ancient Tree” puerh, which is made from cultivated trees, this tea is made from very old wild trees growing in the forest. The wild trees in this area are huge – often 8 metres high and needing two people to wrap their arms around the trunk. It tends to be the women in the village who go to pick them as great skill and dexterity is needed to climb the tall, straight trunks.
We were able to buy a little of this tea last year for our Puerh tea club members. It was one of our personal favourites from last year and we asked a farmer there if he could make some more – we’d happily buy as much as they were able to gather. For people there, gathering wild tea is not a high priority – most families have their own tea gardens to pick and process & picking these huge wild trees is much harder work. Happily, he agreed, and with the help of members of his extended family, they were able to gather a bit more tea for us this Spring.
In Yunnan, local people often distinguish between 甜野 (Sweet Wild) and 苦野 (Bitter Wild) when talking about wild tea. I’m not quite sure how this translates into our western scientific nomenclature for tea varietals. This type of wild tea is known as sweet wild. There is a little bitter backbone giving strength to the tea, but it is more sweet and rich than bitter varietals.
For me, the highlight of this tea is the Qi. This strong energy is easily apparent in the tea right from the beginning. In the mouth, it’s thick and rich with honey tones and very smooth.