Xiao Hu Sai Gushu
小户赛古树
Harvest: 04.2021
Xiao Hu Sai is a small mountainous village of 45 families in Lincang city, Yunnan province in China. Located in deep mountain 1800m high above the sea level, the village is hidden from the modern world. Modern facilities like electricity and streets were only introduced into the village more than 10 years ago. Streets and roads are not proper roads for transportations but the ones of pressed mud for pedestrians. With such an isolated environment, the semi-wild ancient tea trees left by the ancenstors have provided them with cash crops.
Pu Erh Tea trees here have been taken care of this small village with leaves of clean and good quality. Gushu Pu Erh from Xiao Hu Sai has become more and more sought-after in China. The price is every year more expensive. To become well-known in a massive tea country like China, the quality of the tea has to be solid enough and unique enough.
This Gushu Pu Erh harvested in spring 2021 in Xiao Hu Sai village has its bites - it can be bitter and strong if you like it too, and it has its fruitiness as well as sweetness if you are mindful with the brewing time. The Huigan - returning sweetness, is its beauty, as it seems to be never ending.
3 weeks after this new Xiao Hu Sai Gushu arrived in our shop, I sat down with two of my colleagues, Vito and Eunji, to taste this tea on a rainy day. I did not expect too much from it, as I usually do not expect to be overwhelmed by Pu Erh tea on a rainy day. But as it is not so often that the three of us sit down to savor a tea together, we tasted it anyway. To my great surprise, this Xiao Hu Sai turned out so sweet, gentle, velvet with very subtle bitterness and astringency only in the first 2 infusions. It could have been flatter than it can be on a sunny day, but we were totally carried away by its sweetness, silkiness, good tea energy and a balanced flavors. We sat there chatting away, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere brought by this tea as well as its endless sweetness for more than 10 infusions. This Xiao Hu Sai Pu Erh Tea really made my day on that rainy summer.