2010 Ancient Gate Yiwu Aged Raw Pu Erh Tea Cake 200g

The texture is smooth and full-bodied, with a fruity sweetness that captures the patient passage of time within Yiwu’s finest leaves. In the absence of medicinal bitterness, this pu erh is deeply comforting. It is as easy to enjoy as a conversation among friends, tucked away in a quiet courtyard behind the gates of ancient Pingyao.

Appearance & Taste

Rarely do we come across an older raw pu erh that has matured this cleanly. The 2010 spring leaves have deepened in color, the buds have turned a soft golden hue, and the cake surface shows an even, lightly oily sheen, a sign of steady aging.

In the cup, it leans sweet and fruity with a smooth, rounded body. Aging has eased away the original astringency and bitterness, leaving a gentle depth and a lingering sweetness that stays on the palate. Comforting, composed, and remarkably approachable for an aged sheng.

Harvest & Craft

• Harvest: Handpicked in Spring 2010
• Craft: processed into maocha (loose pu erh)
• Aging: Aged for 14.5 years in loose form for uniform inside-out maturation
• Pressing: Steamed and stone-pressed into cakes in November 2025

Because the tea matured as loose maocha for most of its life, the aging is notably even, not just “aged on the surface.” It’s already drinking beautifully now, but it also has room to continue developing.

Packaging

Each cake is double-wrapped in two layers of breathable paper to support further aging. Sets of five cakes are then wrapped in another protective layer and finished with dried bamboo sheathing to help safeguard the tea during storage and transport.

Design: Ancient City of Pingyao

The Ancient Gate label is a nod to Pingyao, the walled city whose massive gates once framed the movement of tea, silver, and people along the trade routes between Xian and Beijing. In the 19th century, Pingyao helped power China’s tea commerce through its piaohao draft banks, financing the long journeys that carried tea from the south toward the northern borders and beyond. Today, that same city feels like a living museum, where preserved stone walls and courtyard tea houses invite a slower pace and a more reflective kind of drinking. Hand-drawn by our artist Suyi in Chinese water-painting style (水墨画). It's so beautiful, it might just belong in a frame on your wall. The design captures this theme of endurance and quiet prosperity, a reminder that like Pingyao itself, well-made pu erh is built to last, deepening in character and value as time does its work.

Origin: Yiwu (1800m)

This tea comes from Yiwu Mountain in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, at around 1800m elevation. Yiwu is one of the Six Famous Tea Mountains (Yiwu, Yibang, Manzhuan, Mangzhi, Gedeng, and Youle), long prized since the Qing Dynasty as an important center of tea production and trade. Historically, Yiwu teas traveled along old routes to Tibet and were also sent as tribute to imperial courts.

Yiwu is especially known for its mild character, smooth texture, and sweet, lingering aftertaste, and this cake showcases that classic profile with years of maturity layered on top.