- Production year: 2018
- Storage: Hunan
- Brick weight: 1.8 kg
- Chunk weight: ~420g / chunk (+/- 10%)
- Price: USD 30 / chunk
- Availability: In stock
Yuntaiya (云台崖) / Bajiao (八角) is a medium-sized, Yuntaishan focused producer. The company founder, Gong Shousong, gained some notoriety from cultivating and popularizing the first generation of the Yuntai Daye tea varietal back in 1988 (before the 1980s, small-leaf cultivars were much more common in Anhua). In 2000 he established the factory and company, which is currently run by his grandson.
Yuntaiya actually has a homepage with some nice information. Their output is fairly large, and although there is a wide quality range (from just decent to very good) their processing is always on point, with light- to medium fermentation and a prominent but well-integrated smokiness from the qixing stove (for the teas that undergo baking; not all do).
These bricks were made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Gong Shousong’s dissemination experiments and the 18th anniversary of the company. A total of 2018 bricks were pressed, each weighing in at 1.8 kg. (A second batch of 1kg bricks was produced in 2020.) Note that I am offering “quarters” and not full bricks here, each weighing around 420 grams.
The 2018 “Tuohuang” heizhuan is “reference tea” among fans of Anhua heicha — much like Yunshang’s 2017 “Yunyin” heizhuan — and for good reasons. For those interesting in learning more about the company and this tea, I recommend checking out this episode of 倩倩直播间.
I strongly recommend getting a pair of tea scissors for these types of bricks: the compression is really tight. I don’t stock those, but I can help you buy a pair from Taobao and add them to your order if you’re interested.
