Xi Kong tea like Yi Bang is special in that it is not large leaf varietal but rather a primitive small leaf varietal that has grown in this area for hundreds if not thousands of years. Like other small leaf varietal wild arbor tea trees in Yunnan (Jing Mai), the flavor is lighter and more smooth, but the aroma is pungent and fruity. Xi Kong and Yi Bang are more similar to each other than our other Fall Yi Wu teas, but I find Xi Kong to have something darker and more pungent than Yi Bang. Xi Kong's aroma is more subtle and it's taste is incredibly textured and fills the mouth and throat imparting a wonderful sensation! I recommend drinking this tea on a sunny day in a warm place to allow for a full release of it's aroma and cha qi! This year's autumn production comes from hundreds of year old tea trees! This tea was compressed in a small tea factory in Yi Wu town where unusually large 40 kilogam stone presses were used. Low temperature (35C) “baking” was used to dry these cakes after the compression process thus preserving their integrity! In total just 40 kilograms of this tea has been produced. We have delayed sales of this cake for several weeks to allow the water vapor from pressing to dissipate. Further aging will only improve this wonderful tea! Important note: All 5 of the teas from our Autumn Yi Wu series have been hand-stamped with the name of the village in Chinese at the tea factory. However, the person responsible for stamping the wrappers (in most cases) did not use enough ink. Before sending to you we will add an additional stamp with the letters "X K" just below the chinese stamp on the front of the cake to help you identify the cakes. If you order a whole tong, there will be no added "X K" stamp on the cakes as adding it would require us to break open the bamboo leaf tong. Net Weight: 250 grams per cake (7 cakes per bamboo leaf tong) Compression date: October 15th, 2011 Harvest time: October 2011 Harvest Area: Xi Kong, Meng La county of Xi Shuang Banna Total Production amount: 160 cakes (40 kilograms)
