- Production year: 2012
- Storage: Hunan
- Brick weight: 1 kg
- Price: USD 45 / brick
- Availability: In stock
Gaojiashan (高家山) is a fairly big operation — not in the league of Baishaxi, Zhongcha, or Xiangyi, but in that tier of medium-sized Anhua heicha producers one level below. A common assessment is that their teas were more consistently good before the two brothers who ran the company split (in 2013), and that their productions have been more hit-or-miss since then.
There isn’t much information available on the early Gaojiashan productions, but at least in the last few years before the company split there were several batches of hei- and huazhuans produced each year. Supposedly there were (at least) three different production series in 2012 – the “ordinary” (普通), the “exquisite” (精致) and the “old trees” (老树) (which I believe is also the name of an Italian epic spaghetti Western film). This brick (qualification date 2012/09/10) supposedly belongs to the latter of the three series (though the wrapper doesn’t do much to distinguish it as anything special besides the “特制” on the “quality grade” field). That’s a supposedly on top of a supposedly right there, never mind the fact that Gaojiashan wasn’t (and aren’t) shy about putting the “WILD TEA” stickers on (almost) all their teas, and that “old trees” in Anhua Heicha seems to be used very liberally, sometimes for trees only > 50 years.
In any case, regardless of the validity of such claims, the early Gaojiashan bricks are held in high regard by many (myself included) and are still available at a very decent price point.
NB: This listing is for the 2012 heizhuan. I also have a huazhuan from the same year and series listed.
Note: This tea may contain golden flowers (Jinhua/金花), a natural occurrence in certain heicha teas. Their development depends on factors like microbial activity, storage conditions, and time. However, individuals with Celiac Disease or severe gluten allergies should exercise caution, as we cannot guarantee that no wheat-based materials were involved at any stage of production.
