Baka

Spring 2021 raw Pu-erh tea, picked from 40 year-old gardens Very high altitude gardens growing on steep slopes, close to Bingdao village, Mengku. Moderate bitterness and astringency, High fragrance, moderate sweetness, crispy bite! The daily-drinker you need to keep you awake and entertained through the day On the fringes of Bingdao area Baka is a group of three villages located 4km to the South-West of Bingdao Old Village. Despite its close proximity to the most expensive pu-erh tea village in Yunnan, the tea of Baka has remained very accessible to the savy buyer. This is explained by the absence of massive old trees there. Despite not being blessed by the presence of ancient tea gardens, the villagers of Baka started planting tea in the 1980s. We sourced tea from the upper village, which manages the highest gardens comprised between an altitude of 1900m and 2200m. Unlike most natural tea garden you'd find in Xishuangbanna, the farmers haven't established shade trees in the garden. At such high altitudes, the temperature and humidity are low enough to avoid most pest and disease attacks. They chose to maximize the sunlight exposure by growing the tea in open fields. Basic factory but mastered processing When arriving in the upper village, one can be surprised by the apparent lack of development and infrastructure. The houses are small and few proper tea factories can be seen. Yet, a conscientious tea maker does not need a state-of-the-art factory to make good Pu-erh tea, skill is what matters. Mr Luo has been making tea at a small scale since 2015. His family used to sell their entire harvest to larger factories from the valley. He now processes a part of his harvest himself and sells to buyers like us. Alpine taste The tea feels lively in the mouth. It delivers a vivid fragrance reminiscent of Bingdao area. The mouthfeel is of a moderate thickness: upfront moderate bitterness, followed by sweetness and a light astringency. The fragrance can be enjoyed in the nose first, and lingers in the back of the mouth as the session goes. This is a very good daily drinker, you'll enjoy it for six to ten brews.