While the base formula of black tea and shou puer continues for the 6th iteration, this year’s pressing continues the evolution of this unique blend, emphasizing different characteristics and nuances. After working through dozens of samples and all possible combinations of them, we settled on a sun dried (shaihong) black tea from one of our favourite regions in Lincang, Bangdong. With a strong fruit-leaning sweetness, this tea offers plenty of fragrance and takes center stage… for now. Meanwhile, 2023 Huazhuliangzi shou puer rounds out the body, complementing the shaihong’s fragrance with a pleasant texture and mouthfeel. With a clean taste and fruity fragrance of its own, this shou subtly emphasizes the strengths of its black tea counterpart. Compared to other pressings, this tea exhibits stronger black tea qualities in the early stages, however, experience has taught us that this is likely to change over the next few months/years. For each pressing the separation of flavours and qualities is initially quite noticeable, but can be expected to meld together over time, producing a more cohesive experience. What started out as an experiment gone very right, this budget-friendly tea is a good one to double up on for both near term drinking and long-term storage. $0.13/gram Region: Bangdong & Huazhuliangzi, Yunnan Picking Period: Spring 2025 & 2023
