This is a 5 gram, single serving tea cracker made of the same material as the baikeng Caicha solidarity cake. which is the second iteration of our cost-transparent, profit-sharing solidarity cakes. Going forward, we will aim to release one per season, aimed at relatively struggling producers. In this case, we worked with the Wu Family, a small family attic operation on the periphery of an already struggling Fuding.
This cracker was made from the heirloom stock (Caicha) of heterogenous bushes that grew in the area before modern cultivars like Dabai and Dahao were propagated. Baikeng Village has been home to Wu Shiwei and his tea-growing aunt and grandfather before him. Although by no means a famous village, the family was one of many to grow tea there since the 1950's. Up until around the new millennium, that meant mostly making red tea for export. The white tea boom let Shiwei quit his job coal-mining up in Shanxi, and he has stayed on despite the recent market downturn.
His family's caicha's were one of the first we drank, but they have never been sold on here before. Refreshing and vegetal, heirloom teas like these are not always sweet or creamy in the same way as modern cultivars covered in fuzzy down. This one is, however, robustly fragrant, uniquely sweet, and without any of the unpleasant sourness or bitterness that can come with fresh teas made from such materials. It is a simply good and straightforward tea.
To support the profit sharing project, please check out the full caicha cake and read about the transparent Price Break Down on that page.
Deeply roasted Northern Fujian yancha character, but otherwise a bit flat. Low astringency, with caramelized brown sugar and just a whisper of woody cinnamon beneath the roast. Fine as an everyday Rou Gui, though the roast carries most of the experience.
Floral, green, balanced, it does have that butter type note, decently sweet. It brews many multiple times. Overall, its a very decent Ya Shi Xiang at a good value.
This cute little square brewed up surprisingly well in a mug. Sometimes I find Yunnan whites to be temperamental to brew, but this one was a smooth sipper right off the bat and lasted quite long.
