2026 Yunnan Collection Pre-Release

At long last, the Yunnan Collection whole cake pre-release is here. This round up features a distillation of returning crowd favorites from over the years, a few newcomers, and some of the most ideal price - quality ratio around. Twelve cakes in total — half of them daily drinker priced. Take 10% off just this first week. The annual Yunnan Collection is mostly a sheng pu affair and this year is no different. All are 200 gram raw pu'er cakes except the two 150g whites and the one 100g red. The photos below with a few words and whole cake prices are here for now. For those who want more details via product pages for each cake + sample size options, sit this one out for the next couple-few weeks until. But if you want first dibs on a limited supply for a slight discount, this little pre-release is for you. The lesser known (and least expensive) of the Five Banzhang Villages in southern Menghai County in the Bulang Mountains, neighbor to "King of Pu'er" Lao Banzhang. Big, meaty Banzhang expression, light fragrance, medium bitterness, nice body feel. The old reliable, Da E's Stone Village gushu cake returns. Presenting the best ancient tree tea cake for value. Hailing from Da E's 1937 planted arbors in Nannuo, pretty much on the cusp of what some would qualify as ancient tree grade - upper end of what's called dashu grade. Fragrant and punchy Nannuo terroir with good thickness. Cousin He's ancient arbors just up the mountain from his house, just below the prestigious Shimenkan area of Mahei Village, a sought after Yiwu terroir. The most honeyed, thick, expansive on the palate expression of central Yiwu. This garden was featured in this documentary episode. A crowd favorite since its introduction last year, these young forested ecologically grown arbor shrubs just outside of Mahei town produce our favorite daily drinker raw yet. Don't sleep on it. The He family 661 gardens in Yiwu town return for this classic and approachably priced Yiwu Zhengshan gushu cake. Bameng Village, right below the tallest peak in Xishuangbanna, Huazhuliangzi, competes not only as some of the highest elevation tea in the world, but might take the cake as the eldest gardens grown above 2000 meters. Mossy, thick, fragrant, with nice bitterness. Wen Kan's wild high mountain guoyoulin gardens just outside Lao Man'e give us a classy, balanced take on the typical gut punch from this legendary Bulang village. The same material featured in the Yunnan Field Trip mao cha packets earlier this year. It may be the most pricey cake of the release, but oh so worth it. Young ecologically grown arbor trees of the kucha bitter variety give us the more punchy, "gamey" side of domineering Lao Man'e profile. Though masochists will surely find their fix, many will be surprised at just how elegant young LME kucha can be with good processing. An entertaining and dynamic tea for those who want to dial in brewing technique with a highly responsive cake. A commissioned 1 bud 1 leaf grade autumn 2025 small batch harvest from Da E's 1937 dashu gardens. Easy sipping, thick, white with loads of mountain wild flower fragrance and endurance for a lengthy session. Tell me when you're ready for the digest on this one... Here goes: in the Nannuo hinterlands, SW of the main villages, is a wilderness area sought after by the connoisseur market called Bama. In Bama, there are ancient trees of the main da ye zhong big leaf variety, then there are taxonomically unclassified Camellia bushes referred to as ye cha "wild tea". Ye Cha bushes flush on a different timeline than the more ubiquitous arbor trees and hold some of Yunnan's most wild, uncultivated flavors and aromas. During a warm spell in late January earlier this year, many bushes in Bama sprouted, most of them being ye cha. Much of the sprouts were of the purple mutation, a "sunblocking" strategy by the plants, increasing anthocyanins / decreasing chlorophyll to photosynthesize less. Da E made a white tea out of the limited harvest (but also some of it was made into a red tea and is blended into the red cake below). A truly rare experience with unique colors/tones for the palate/palette, with a nod to the classic ya bao profile some might find familiar. Nannuo Stone Village ancient tree harvest + 1937 dashu garden harvest + Bama purple ye cha harvests all crafted as sun dried reds then blended into this burly, brisk Nannuo blend. 100 gram cake of jet fuel fits right into a back pocket.