What a remarkable experience to follow our own handcrafted teas through the years! Coastal storage in California since time of production has provided sufficient temperature and moisture variation to allow for noticeable change from one year to the next. The result is a slowly increasing viscosity and aromatics concentrated within the liquor.
Along with our Feral Nature, this tea is being offered here at a very special price as a tribute to Jingmai Mountain's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site and as part of Theasophie's newly launched Call to Action.
Theasophie teas are material and energetic expressions at the confluence of ecological and social relations. Family, friends and mentors all guide our hand throughout the production process. Our approach to tea changes from one season to the next. This can be observed in the evolving profile of each vintage. We specialize in old-growth agroforestry tea, planted by Mangjing ancestors and entirely handcrafted. Meticulous attention at every stage of processing ensures optimum preservation of vitality within the leaf. Jingmai Mountain provides an exceptional introduction to shengcha – natural fermentation Pu’er tea.
Jingmai Mountain devotees share a common belief that the local varietal really starts to express itself after the third year. The typical mild astringency recedes, revealing a strong and refined character. Herbaceous notes transform to camphor, even yielding a touch of medicine fragrance (yaoxiang), promising of the transformation yet to come.