Spring Ailao

This aged raw Pu-erh from Wu Liang Mountain offers a clean and inviting aroma, reminiscent of delicate orchids intertwined with grounding camphor notes. The brew unfolds into a clear golden-orange liq. It leans earthy, floral and clean.

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 2007 harvest.

Starts at $14.25 from Yunnan Sourcing, or about $0.35/g. A 25g package gets you around 4 gongfu sessions at ~6 g each, which works out to about $2.10 per session. Compare dark prices across vendors on Teadar.