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From the same farmer/producer as our ’24 Obsession sheng puer and Legacy shou, these unassuming clumps of shou puer pack plenty of flavour, with notes of cocoa and a lingering date-like sweetness. The material used in this production is also of higher-than-average quality for shou, lending a more pleasant texture as well. Although we were in search of spring sheng at the time when we discovered this farmer, we were equally impressed with his shou production set up. Our preference for shou productions tends to push us towards larger factories with tighter hygiene practices, clean fermentation and consistent oversight. However, as a former technician specializing in shou puer for a large factory in Simao, he maintains those standards for his own small batch productions in Jinggu – an uncommon quality for many small scale shou setups. A natural byproduct of making shou-puer, lao cha tou are notoriously hard to break up, so don’t expect them to unfold and break apart like a piece of a tea cake would as you brew them. They’ll likely stay clumped up all the way through, but that doesn’t mean they won’t keep putting in work. For this reason, we highly recommend boiling your lao cha tou in order to squeeze as much out of them as possible. Whether brewing them with a gaiwan/teapot first or coming straight out of the back, simply add a few nuggets to a pot or kettle and let it go until the soup reaches your desired level of inkiness. $0.12/gram