2011 BGT Yiwu

Name: 2011 Big Green Tea Tree Yiwu/2011 Yìwǔ zhèng shān dàshù chá lǜ dàshù
Year: 2011
Weight: cca 357 grams or samples

Details:
this is a youngest of the new old tea taiwan stored collection still I regard it as a superior one even it is from 2011 only, some teas age faster some slower, this one still does not have the antiquity feel but posses a warm touch of an aging Yiwu tea, the true character of old tea tree Yiwu reflects the ‘baked’ sweetness in it, the irony sweetness

there is this vast space hidden in this tea, the flavour spans from east to west allong, captivating all the senses mounth and nose, body feels relax and quiet, the mind stops at one point and rests there, does not want to move

a good tea to compare with the older Yiwu by Tong Qing Hao that is ahead of 6 years, both teas are a very good reference of authentic Yiwu teas

This tea is made according recorded classical records, and the recipe used tea leaves come from various Yiwu mountains villages such as Guāfēng, Mahēi, Luòshuǐdòng, Gāoshān and other.

Side notes:

I have asked my new tea taiwanesse friend a few questions as with this tea and other of his teas there were several doubts raising in my mind. He calls himself Vic and jumped on a pu-erh tea train I would say already during his youth when his father and his friends, not tea merchants so far, rather tea afficionados were cultivating their tea, later only pu-erh tea drinking ‘hobby’. Traveling to China, to tea mountains, to tea factories learning first hand, ‘on-site’ about tea leaves and the whole thing around producing pu-erh tea.

Q:
Is this Big Green Tree 2011 was made as a custom ordered tea for your company? As this and other of your teas might confuse the customer as similar ones can be sold only at a fraction of your price. The factories do not have levels/standarts for quality?

A:
Not exactly. The correct statement should be: The original materials were required by us and the tea factory, and we (a group of tea aficionados from Taiwan) asked the factory to provide the top-level 2011 Yiwu spring tea.

Why 2011, because it was the factory director’s who signs the cakes and he produces his last batch of pu-erh and retires. This is his final product and we tested it to meet our standards, and then the factory sold it all to us. The cost is naturally higher than other low and mid-end products.

This is a bit different from the customization that I went to tea mountains, to purchase raw materials and give it to the factory OEM. The raw material was purchased by the factory itself, but we bought out the entire top-level batch.

Simply put, the factory purchases raw materials every year and it classifies it high, middle and low grades according to the quality. We can and we only purchase the highest grade raw materials because of our contacts, friendship with factory director, costs, and quantity. We bought all the quantity in stock, so we could get good material. The remaining medium and low grade raw materials would still be made into products. High grade materials quantity is relatively small, so when a large number of low- and middle-grade products are circulated in the market, consumers cannot find high-end products without special channels, thinking that the factory only produces middle-low products.

Such examples have also occurred in 勐海 Menghai Factory and 大益 Dayi Tea Factory.

Therefore the high level of tea itself, its rarity, uniqueness, and a good storage makes it worth to its higher price.

Factories still have their own production standards, but for us, their standards are not enough for our needs, just as someone’s standard is C, and we only accept A+ the same reasoning.

You may read a review of this tea in German here