Spring 2020 Najiao old trees Fermented by Mr Shi in September 2020 8kg batch Heavy mouthfeel and soft texture We've offered a couple of micro-batches fermented by Mr Shi before. He is a retired engineering professor and dedicated his time to the fermentation of Pu-erh tea. This ripe Pu-erh was fermented for 20 days under controlled temperature and humidity, a method different from the traditional one that consists in piling huge amount of leaves and letting them generate their own heat. Since we've explored the Mengku region recently, it was relevant to see how this material would turn out after a fermentation step. Luckily, Mr Shi had just fermented two batches from Na Jiao, a village located on the Eastern Mountain of Mengku, right next to Ba Nuo village. He used identical parameters for the fermentation of two teas, made by the same producer, one from Spring, the other from Autumn. This is the Spring version, the leaves look darker than the Autumn one, at a first glance, one would think the fermentation is heavier, but the same parameters were used for the process. The soup has a thick texture and coats the mouth exquisitely. The fragrance develops as the session goes and the tea keep delivering through ten brews. Light bitterness is present, which is rare in ripe pu-erh tea. This tea should be taste side by side with the autumn version. Since the tea was recently fermented, it is expected the fragrance will develop further as the tea ages.
