"Yiwu's Virgin Tree" 1999 Original Ecology CNNP Shou Pu'er

Inside the tea wrapper for 1999 Original Ecology CNNP Shou Pu'er is a piece of paper that speaks about the legendary tea mountains of Yiwu and the artisanal tea processing techniques for this cake.  I love to read this message while drinking the tea liquor because it feels like a message from a time capsule, placed inside the tea wrapper when the cake was pressed in 1999.  The message reads: 

The Yiwu Virgin Tree's Round Cake Tea

  The Yiwu virgin trees round cake tea was made of shoot[s] which [were] selected from the virgin tea plants grown (sic) in Yiwu, it was totally made by hand by imitating the ancient tea-processing technologies.  The product is pollution-free, the tea leaves are fleshy and shining-black and tea soup shows a brightly reddish color.  It is an absolute (sic) natural function for preventing cancer, strengthening the stomach, reducing body weight, suppressing hypertension and decreasing blood fat (sic), and may thus help prolong human life.  

This tea is aged to perfection with a smooth body and mellow forest floor.  Because of it's high quality, it is never bitter even if brewed strongly and has the capability to re-brew up to ten times when prepared gong fu cha style. 

Please take advantage of lidding the pot of spent tea leaves to re-oxidizing them overnight and brewing them one last time in the morning.  Allow the leaves to infuse in hot water for longer than usual, around 6-8 minutes.  This infusion is a great way to awaken your tea palate in the mid-morning.    

The Yunnan Tea Corporation was founded in 1944 and went through numerous control, mergers and name changes over thirty years.  In 1972, the CNNP (中茶) branch was founded and became one of the original tea factories in China to produce manual pile fermented pu'er tea, which was first developed in 1973 by their affiliated company, Kunming Tea Factory.  In 1996, Kunming Factory suspended tea production and licensed it's brand to Menghai and Zianguan factories.  In 2003, the company stopped letting other factories produce its tea and retained its own ecological tea gardens, ensuring that their artisanal techniques and original ecology are exclusively part of Chinatea.  They still wrap their tea cakes in their signature red and green '中茶' logo.