Reincarnation - Post Liu Bao

Whether you believe in an afterlife, or that we are consciousness derived from brain chemistry destined to perish with our meat suits, this is a tea that will get you to think a little deeper on the meaning of transformation.

Reincarnation's story begins in its previous life as Becoming, a 15 year naturally aged liu bao (and the first tea in this two tea series) which we highly recommend you pick up as well, to fully understand this metamorphosis. Stuffed into bamboo baskets, it is soaked with water steeped with rice, which attract snout moths (that naturally feed on rice), who then lay their eggs onto the liu bao. These eggs hatch into caterpillar larvae who then feed solely on the tea.  

Over the course of several months this cycle is repeated until there is enough accumulated droppings from these caterpillars to be collected and consumed.  Since the caterpillars eat nothing but this aged liu bao*, the end result arguably produces the clearest distillation of that evergreen aphorism, you are what you eat.  

Notes of petrichor, telephone pole on a hot summer day and damp earth abound, with a multi-cup staying power strong enough to stick with you well into the great beyond. No religious belief required.   

* This style of tea is also made using many other types and ages of liu bao.

Location - Liubao Zhen, Cangwu County, Wuzhou Prefecture, Guangxi Z.A.R., China

Rebirth - 2023

BREWING INSTRUCTIONS

• Gong Fu - Steeping the tea can result in overbrewing, so this tea is best expressed by using a pour over method with a good mesh strainer and a cup (or fairness pitcher).  See included photos as an example.
  
  Place 1 teaspoon of Reincarnation in your strainer, rinse and then slowly pour water from your kettle over the tea in the strainer. Also, if you pour your water in increments, it allows the water that stays in the leaf to infuse a bit more of the tea's flavor before you pour again.  Can go for 8-10 steeps, or longer if tie allows.