Lessons with Tao: Ancient Pu-er

     Since the end of July I have been with Tao Tea Leaf and have learnt a lot since. A few weeks ago, with some friends we began the day tasting an Ancient Tree Pu-er. I have never had the chance to try this type of tea, but I have always wanted to . Others in the online Tea Community have written many pages on this type,but this is a first for me.
       The tea we tried was 2009 Bing Dao , Tao described it as the "Queen or Pu-er" latter in the day. On an empty stomach this tea made me feel warm and I had a light sweat. This feeling was new to me, I wish I knew why the body has such a reaction after drinking it.
   As we continued to brew Tao invited Mike our guest who came in with his wife, to explain "Qi" to me. 
    Qi has been mentioned on many blogs I have read, It is hard to describe. To put it simply its how the tea effects your body, to understand this more I suggest giving this type of pu-er. 

 The teas dry leaves have a sweet biscuit like scent to them that,when steeped, opens up to a stone fruit taste with a hint of menthol (Hui Gan is the name for this). A lingering mouth feel, as the menthol coats your pallet  The body feels warm and the tea makes you sink into your chair further, becoming more centered and aware of its weight. As the body adjusts to the tea, we found it hard to control our body from burping. This is a very natural occurrence, each time it made the body feel like it was fixing something from within.

       
       Latter in the afternoon We sat down again to try Ban Zang 2011, which I was told was the "King of Pu-er".

Smelling the wet leaves has a menthol smell, it feels like it opens the sinuses. It has a very young taste. The taste is similar to a good cigar and the smell takes us to a secluded creek. As the body adjusts to the tea, we found it hard to control our body from burping. It has a strong Cha Qi , Tao tells me which causes this.This is a very natural occurrence, each time it made the body feel like it was fixing something from within.

           There are two villages in the area this is made, new and old. The old village is located apart from the new, where this tea originates. The area experiences a thick fogginess for  about a third of the year, due to its high altitude. There are thousands of old trees that vary in age, from over 100 years old to over 800 years old. 
--------------------------------------------------------
  Have you tried Ancient Tree Pu-er before?  I would love to hear about your experience with them.