– Master, why is the village that produces this tea called "Iceland"?
– Sip the tea. Listen to your throat. Do you feel the sweetness and cooling sensation? – it’s the mountain’s recipe.
Bing Dao (冰岛), which translates as "Iceland” (”ice island”), sits in Mengku, Lincang. It’s the most prized terroir in all of Lincang, and one of the most coveted names in the Pu-erh tea world. The Bingdao region comprises of five villages, of which Bingdao Lao Zhai (冰岛老寨 — "Bingdao Old Village") is the oldest and the most legendary. Historically a Dai (傣) settlement, Lao Zhai has been cultivated by Dai families for centuries. Here, in a small core garden at roughly 1,750m, ancient trees of the native Mengku Da Ye Zhong (勐库大叶种) cultivar produce what is widely considered the benchmark for sweetness in raw Pu-erh – a clear, sweet coolness on the throat that the village takes its name from.
This tea comes from a plot in the core ancient garden, worked by the Feng (俸) family – one of the Dai households of Bingdao Lao Zhai. It was harvested in the first days of April, picked at the one-bud-two-leaves standard. Plot's leaves were processed entirely on their own – no blending into bulk Bingdao material. What’s in the tea cake is the character of one family's slice of the mountain, and nothing else.
The dry leaf gives a gentle aroma of apple pie, cotton candy, and dried apricot. With hot water, the tea opens into white peach, pear, and baked apple, all carried on Bingdao's unmistakable rock-sugar sweetness (冰糖韵). Later infusions reveal a soft orchid taste and aroma that emerges as the fruit recedes. The mouthfeel is thick and silken with a deep, settled numbing coolness in the throat – the village's signature Liang Gan (凉感). The finish is long and stays sweet. Through all of it runs a powerful Cha Qi (茶气) that rises gradually through the body as the session goes on.
There is no bitterness to break through, no roughness to soften. Only sweetness. A tea to be sipped slowly and remembered for a long time after.
Brewing guidelines:
-
212℉ / 100℃
-
1g per 70-100ml
3-5 min -
1g per 20ml5 sec + 5 sec for each subsequent infusion