Chen YuanHao is among or possibly the most well respected and regarded producer of 100% pure ancient tree Pu’er in the world, due to impeccable sourcing, innovative artisanal pain-staking production methods and over 20 years of creating teas that have set a new higher standard in Pu’er quality over and over.
Authenticity
The world of Pu’er is full of counterfeit and while there are many obviously easy-to-spot fakes, there also a lot of pretty convincing “fakes”, which the non-expert can be fooled by, even after years of seriously drinking Pu’er.
Very often a certain tea garden is sold as a more prestigious one, and even more often a tea is called ‘ancient tree’ but the actual quantity of ancient tree leaves is between 10% and 50%. These methods can produce teas that convince most Pu’er drinkers, casual and connoisseurs alike. Because the real thing is so rare, often these kind of tea are believed to be the real ancient tree Pu’er.
Our reputation for providing tea from exactly the tea garden we’re declaring and 100% pure ancient tree (not blended in any way, which is extremely common for all normal ‘gushu’, even the one that tastes quite good) is our most precious asset. It has been built by over 20 years of producing real 100% pure ancient tree tea and you know you can really stand by it.
True exclusivity
Mr Chen Huaiyuan is extremely picky with the tea made under his name. He insists on an unreasonably high level of quality, which means often a tea from a certain area just cannot be made in a given year (due to seasonal weather or even nearby fields pesticide use). Most of our elite productions (for example ManSong, ChaWangShu, TianMenShan) are only about 10kg or so (~30 tea cakes).
Mr Chen and his son personally supervise the picking to avoid even small quantities of leaves from smaller trees being added (which is extremely common otherwise). Further, he is one of the few people in the world that has the depth of experience to really guarantee the tea he produces is 100% pure ancient tree from the identified garden (not blended with smaller trees and not blended with neighbouring areas).
With this extremely high levels of insisting on the very best, only limited quantities of tea can be made each year.
Taste test
Everybody talks about quality, very few teas can stand the test of been brewed with a firm hand.
Brewing method:
- In a porcelain gaiwan, use about 0.8 grams of tea for each 10ml (for example 8 grams for a 100ml gaiwan)
- Water temperature for the first three steeps = 90C (194F), after = 100c (212F)
- Steeping time: 30 seconds, increasing from the 5-6th brew (to taste)
Most tea will exhibit a moderate to strong ‘drying’ astringency (mouth puckering, like when eating a lemon), this is the most indicative sign of low quality leaves material (fertiliser, second or even later pick, multiple pick per years, inferior Pu’er varietals). This is usually pretty obvious, however brewing time can be increased to 45 seconds or temperature to 100c to make the difference between high quality and medium quality tea even more clear.
Uncomfortableness in the throat (a feeling of the throat being closed, and the tea needing to be swallowed) is usually a sign of pesticide use, as is a tingling in the lips and a sharp feeling in the middle of the tongue. This is not so easy to detect at first, but one can train themselves to do it over time by comparing known-clean Pu’er with others.
Please compare Chen YuanHao and other Pu’er in this way, it will be clear what really contains 100% pure ancient tree Pu’er, free from pesticides and fertilisers, first spring pick, orthodox Pu’er varietal (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) and what contains mostly plantation tea or bushes, and maybe just a little bit of old tree.