Old Thai Master 1996
1996 Thai Dao Jian Zhong Chiang Mai Artisanal Shu Puer
Gentle meditative aged dark tea with a sweet velvety taste and aroma reminiscent of balsa, vanilla, rare woods and fragrant soil with a mineral aftertaste.
A unique piece from the workshop of an old puer master producer in Thailand.
Origin: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Cultivar: Dayezhong - Big leaf tea trees
Harvest: 1996
Type: Dark fermented tea (Shu Puer)
Storage: Thailand
Because of the fermentation and ageing the weight of the whole brick can range from 330 to 380 g.
This tea is from the archive of a recently deceased Thai producer of Chinese origin, Mr Dao Jian Zhong.
Dao Jian Zhong was born in 1930, and he witnessed several historical changes in puer production during his life. In 1965 he deserted from the Chinese army, fled to Laos and finally settled in Thailand in the Chiang Mai region. He worked for 20 years in the famous Thai tea factory Hong Tai Chang, where he learned many ways of making puer tea. After the factory closed in the 1990's he joined a small factory, where he directed production up until his passing in 2019. Even though his signature has never appeared on the cake wrappers he stood at the birth of many puer cakes with his enormous experience woven into them. Upon request from Hong Kong teahouses, he learned the production style of old Yunnanesse family companies from the beginning of the 20. century, the recipes of Thai "Hong Tai Chang" and Chinese "Menghai" factories from the age of large nationalised tea factories. Many of these cakes in original wrappers travelled to Hong Kong, Macca, China and Taiwan, without anybody knowing the story of the man behind them.
This cake is a phenomenal example of 26-year-old wonderfully aged shu puer, made with traditional Chinese methods brought over to Thailand. It's taste may remind us of very old puer and liubao. In total there have been only 168 cakes left available.
Code | Code: 1095/25 1095/50 1095/100 1095/357 1095/15 Choose variant |
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Category: | Tea |