Yun Wu Shang Pin 2010

For lovers of peat and tannins.

Searching for Yun Wu (cloud and mist) only to be grounded in the flavors of deeper sediments could be this tea's proverbial pot of gold. Unwrapping the heavier than ordinary bing, the fragrance of the big and velvety leaves pronounces the minerality expected in the brew. Several short steeps in, each a consistently viscous liquid infused with the essence of coal, peat, port wine, and thick-skinned grapes, it is tannic and palpable as worked leather. The leaves were collected from middle-aged dashu of Banpen, a village in Bulang south of the famous Banzhang and have been aged for more than a decade. Perhaps in this deep, slow, and searching nature, humility can be found.