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This is both a tea and farmer that we were extremely happy to discover this year. Situated in Jinggu county, Jiutaipo is a bit off the beaten path compared to the more travelled parts of Banna, not to mentioned the gardens are difficult to access on anything with more than two wheels. However, the tea from this area is well worth the extra effort, producing a brothy and savoury soup. Made from mixed-picking material (big and small trees picked together), this tea is quite well rounded in terms of flavour, fragrance and body, but not overly bright or sweet. This is the closest we’ve found to factory style tea, but from a small production. And this makes more sense considering the farmer’s background as a technician for a large tea factory in Simao. Upon entering his converted home-tea factory, we were impressed by the standard of cleanliness and organization, which was to an uncommon level for a small production. This level of attention to detail is carried over to every part of the tea processing for both sheng and shou puer. $0.44/gram Region: Jiutaipo, Jinggu, Simao Prefecture Picking Period: April 1-5