Spring Ailao

This aged raw Pu-erh unfurls with a mellow character, revealing an inviting orange liquor. On the palate, it offers a pleasing mouthfeel, balanced by a semi-aged taste that still retains a hint of ini. It leans earthy, mellow and bittersweet.

Water around 95–100 °C (203–212 °F). In a mug, steep 3–5 min. For gongfu, use 5–7 g per 100 ml, 10–20 s steeps (10–20+ rounds). You'll get to see how the flavor changes across multiple rounds. Rinse the leaves once with boiling water before your first real steep. It cleans off storage dust and gets the flavor going.

Grown in Yunnan, China. This batch is from the Spring 2002 harvest.

Starts at $58.00 from Yunnan Sourcing, or about $0.29/g. A 200g package gets you around 33 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $1.74 per session. Compare dark prices across vendors on Teadar.