This Liubao Large leaf tea is made by the Wuzhou Tea Factory under their TF Three Cranes Brand. Liubao is an old-style tea – it is an example of the historic border tea that was sent from China to nomadic people living in the border lands located north and west of China. We love it’s straightforward, earnest style and appearance.
Liubao is a simple, easy-to-like, tasty tea with light oxidation and light-to-medium fermentation. Once the tea is made, loose-leaf Liubao is packed into 45-kilo bamboo baskets for storage and aging, but is then later packed into smaller baskets of about 1.5 kilos of tea for retail sale. The baskets allow the tea to continue to develop and improve as air-exchange / breathing is essential for the tea to age.
Liubao is classified as dark tea, and is comprised of large leaf and many twigs. Despite its rough and tumble appearance, Liubao is known for its light mouth-feel, and a rich, earthy, satisfying flavor. The tea liquor is clean, bright and and the taste is well-balanced.
This Liubao was manufactured in 2010 and released for sale in 2013. It is the strongest tasting and earthiest of our 3 loose-leaf Hei Cha. It has a slightly musty aroma in the dry and wet leaf but that character is not off-putting does and not come through in the taste of the tea liquor.
Despite the shorter fermentation time in the tea factory that Hei Cha receives versus that of shou Pu-erh, this tea is reminiscent of nice, aged shou Pu-erh, and is bolder in flavor and style that other Hei Cha we have tasted.
This tea is a great value for tasty, everyday tea drinking. We also think this would be perfect to accompany spicy food. It has been stored carefully in dry storage and will provide many cups of good quality Liubao. We think that it has very good aging potential for years to come.
Think of it as comfort tea for the cold winter months and the damp wet spring weather to follow.
Loose-leaf Liubao is similar to the Liubao bricks and beeng cha discs that we sell but offers the convenience of loose-leaf tea.
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