Pine wood heated over charcoal. The aroma from the natural resin is sweet and full of complexity. Inhaling deeply awakens the senses and infuses you with life.
During man’s early years salt was a vital ingredient for survival. It meant food could be preserved and thus made available during lean times. This importance made salt highly prized and the salt trade brought immense riches to merchants who would coin the saying “salt was more valuable than gold”.
The terms “assets” and “liabilities” are commonly used in association with managing financial wealth and investments. For the financial manager the focus is solely on cash flow. In the case of puerh, once you have incorporated tea into your life the benefits goes beyond financial wealth. As a puerh enthusiast and collector for well over a decade I believe that the values that can be gained from tea can have a deeper and more meaningful impact to life.
In Thailand these mushrooms are locally known as Hed Tup Tal (aka เห็ดตับเต่า) and if there was to be a mushroom version of puerh tea this local delicacy would be hard to beat. Very much in line with ripe puerh tea, Hed Tup Tal possesses an intensely dark color that varies from brown to black and despite their strong appearances both have gentle and mild characteristics. The mushroom tastes mildly earthy with a deep mushroom flavor.
The Golden Needle White Lotus (GNWL) series represent a line of premium ripe puerh produced by Menghai Tea Factory. The production can be traced back to the 1990s when GNWL was initially sold as loose leaf tea. This would later change in 2005 when the leaves were compressed into 200g mini teacakes. Subsequent years have seen the GNWL retain its compressed form with the size of the teacake being increased to the more standard 357g weight as represented by this 2010 version.
The higher level of oxidation and roast imparts a darker color to the resulting tea. On a deeper level the effect of traditional Hung Shui from Dong Ding is considerably more soothing and comfortable, and ideal for those who have a sensitive digestive tract. As someone who is sensitive I am happy to share that I can drink traditional Hung Shui all day without any ill effects. By comparison the nuclear green oolong tea that currently dominates the market in Taiwan is noticeably more acidic and drinking too much leaves me feeling jittery and unwell.
Cleaning and sorting through things is not a particularly fun task so it helps to that there are interesting items that act as motivation for the process. Bringing these oolong teas out from the dark was definitely an incentive.
