Description
This high-grade lightly aged shu/ripe pu'er fang cha ("square tea") from Dayi (aka Menghai Tea Factory and Tae Tea Group) is made from buds and tips. Pressed into a chocolate bar pattern for easy portioning without a tea knife, each small square piece is about 6.7 grams.
The fang cha is 60g and comes in a small box, as pictured. Order four four fangcha, and they will come in the larger box pictured here.
Tasting notes
This tea is a shu-lover's delight. Its high-grade leaves yield rich infusions with thick flavors of earth, bark and forest floor with a creamy texture. On the sides of the tongue, I tasted brighter woody notes. It leaves the palate mostly clean after swallowing, with a just the slightest aftertaste that's a bit like milk.
Brewing tips
This tea is tribute-grade, which means it's made of very small buds and tips. This small leaf size means it infuses very quickly gongfu style, so be sure to adjust your brewing parameters accordingly. We suggest using less leaf than you usually would if brewing in a teapot, because of the extra time it will be steeping while you decant the pot. If brewing in a gaiwan, we suggest very short infusions once the tea has opened, usually after the first or second infusion.
We find this tea does best with 5-6 gongfu infusions. Then, it still has a lot to offer if you continue to infuse once or twice with longer steep times of a minute or more.
Storage
This tea was stored in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province until we purchased it in 2020 directly from Dayi. It has been stored in Seattle since then.