2018 Lincang Laochatou

Lao Cha Tou (老茶头) is one of the most unusual forms of ripe Pu’er.

During the wet-pile fermentation of shou puerh, heat, moisture, and repeated turning cause some leaves to naturally bind together into dense, irregular clusters. These compact nuggets are separated from the loose tea after fermentation and become Laochatou.

Because the leaves are so tightly packed together, Laocatou brews differently from ordinary shou puerh—and that's exactly what makes it interesting.

Why We Chose This One

Traditionally, Laochatou is often considered a lower-grade by-product of cooked/shou puerh, and it's not a category we normally carry. But we decided to carry this one.

It's made by the same producer responsible for one of our favorite premium shou puerhs, the 2021 Wujie “Borderless” Spring Shou Puerh. Instead of using lesser material, this Laochatou was made with premium tea material, by one our trusted, master producers, giving it a depth, sweetness, and refinement that immediately caught our attention.

The result is a remarkably smooth and satisfying ripe puerh with a silky, oily texture and medium body.

The aroma and flavor bring to mind rich egg custard, browned butter, and clean cypress wood. As the tea settles, you'll find a mellow rock-sugar sweetness, subtle salinity, and a lingering vanilla-custard sweetness in the finish.

The tea is very oily and thick, giving it a great, satisfying and comforting texture.

The overall feeling is incredibly calming, clean, and satisfying, with layers of flavor that continue to emerge throughout the session.

One Important Brewing Tip

Don't judge this tea from a gaiwan.

Because Laochatou is so densely packed, ordinary gongfu brewing doesn't extract everything hidden inside the clusters. The result can feel surprisingly light.

Our favorite way to brew it is to boil it.

A long boil breaks down the dense clusters and extracts the deeper sweetness, richness, texture, and complexity that make this tea special. If you have to brew it Gongfu style, use a thicker clay bodied teapot (for better heat retention) with 8-9g of Laochatou and boiling water to extract as much out of these dense clusters as possible.

Brewing Guide

Our Recommendation: Boiled

• 8g tea

• Glass electric kettle

• Boil for 10 minutes

Gongfu Style

• 8-9g tea

• 90ml dense clay teapot

• 206°F / 97°C

• Quick rinse

• First infusion: 40 seconds

• Following infusions: 15–20 seconds

Lincang's mountainous environment, humid subtropical climate, abundant vegetation, and diverse microclimates have made it one of Yunnan's historic large-leaf tea regions.

This 2018 Laochatou is a great example of what happens when premium material, deep fermentation, and years of resting come together—a tea that may look humble, but once properly brewed, offers remarkable depth, texture, and sweetness.