
- HOME >
- New Arrival at HOJO Online Shop
New release of Huo Cao Shan Ripe Pu-erh Tea 2017
- [2018.05.27] Posted By Akira Hojo
Using the spring tea collected from the garden that is left in wild for more than 30 years, we made Huo Cao Shan ripe pu-erh tea. It gives soft and silky mouth-feel with long-lasting aftertaste, with a hint of sweet flavour like dates or dried figs.
Huo Cao Shan is located near the Myanmar border
Huo Cao Shan is located in the south west of Lincang. It is situated in Zhenkang county facing to the national border of Myanmar. Next to Huo Cao Shan is Ma An Shan, one of the renowned mountain that produces excellent tea. The process of making this tea is not unique, but the material is very special. Because of Huo Cao Shan is located at far distance from the nearest airport (more than 8 hours), we found that a number of tea gardens are still kept in very traditional way. The tea gardens are left in wild, with no fertilizer, no pesticide or herbicide and most of the time, weeds are remained. The tea trees are surrounded with wild plants and it’s a well-balanced ecology.
It looks like bush. But actually, it is the tea garden that is left in wild.
Ripe pu-erh tea made of spring crop is very limited
The main market of ripe pu-erh tea is north-east of China or overseas. These are quite price sensitive market. Thus, most of the ripe pu-erh tea manufacturers are very particular about the cost of raw material. Normally, some manufacturers will blend three seasons tea in order to even out the cost and the quality. In most cases, the manufacturers only use two seasons tea (summer and autumn) for making ripe pu-erh tea. In the past two years, more and more manufacturers use only summer and autumn crop for making ripe pu-erh as the price of spring crop has increased a lot. Nowadays if we purchase tea from wholesalers in Kunming or Guangzhou, we can hardly get the ripe pu-erh tea made of 100% spring tea.
Nevertheless, if one has ever tasted spring tea, it is hard to come back to the summer or autumn tea. The taste and the flavour are obviously different. The spring tea taste is soft, mellow, rich, sweet and the after taste lasts for a long time.
The freshly produced raw pu-erh of Huo Cao Shan.
Custom-order ripe pu-erh tea
The ripe pu-erh tea is produced through the fermentation of raw pu-erh tea. The raw material of Huo Cao Shan ripe pu-erh tea gives an excellent drinking sensation even if we drink it before fermentation. It is essential to choose the quality material in order to produce quality ripe pu-erh tea. However, the fermentation of ripe pu-erh tea required several tonnes of raw pu-erh tea to be piled at one time, and the whole fermentation process takes about 45-60 days. It involved huge cost and high risk. We have been requesting our manufacturer to produce premium ripe pu-erh tea. But it was not very easy to convince them, especially recently the price of raw pu-erh has skyrocketed. Usually, the commercial tea markets are expecting low price ripe pu-erh tea and less demand for the high-end ripe pu-erh tea. Our manufacturer knew that it would not be easy for him to sell premium ripe pu-erh tea. However, after many rounds of discussion and persistent request, finally our manufacturer found the way to conduct fermentation in much smaller scale, and he managed to collect the raw pu-erh tea from Huo Cao Shan for making ripe pu-erh tea.
Appropriate material and process makes it excellent flavour
A number of customers told us that the reason they did not like ripe pu-erh tea is because of the particular smell that reminded them of old furniture or mold. In fact, this specific flavour is composed because of two reasons. Firstly, if moisture is too high and aeration is not sufficient during the fermentation, it promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria. It produces musty or earthy smell. During piling process, tea has to be agitated regularly in order to supply adequate oxygen. Once the moisture and oxygen supply are adequate, the aerobic bacteria dominate the fermentation and increase the temperature of tea leaves. As a result, it supresses the growth of other unfavourable bacteria and eventually it produces sweet fruity flavour.
Another reason of the formation of unpleasant flavour is due to the raw material. As manufacturers are too particular about the cost, they often collect the low cost raw pu-erh tea directly from farmers at remote villages; these raw pu-erh teas often have extremely smoky flavour. After the fermentation, the smoky smell still remains as typical smoky and woodsy flavour of ripe pu-erh tea. Some people likes it but some people do not like it.
Huo Cao Shan ripe pu-erh tea gives very mellow drinking sensation with sweet Chinese dates flavour. As this tea is very rich in mineral, it will age well. I particularly recommend this tea for the customer who usually love raw pu-erh tea. This should be the tea that even raw pu-erh tea drinker could also enjoy.
Related Articles
How to get the latest update on HOJO Tea?
1. Follow Twitter, 2. Click "Like" on Facebook, and 3. Subscribe in newsletter. You can have the latest tea news from HOJO Tea.
Subscribe the Newsletter to enjoy the privileges
- You may receive a free sample upon purchase, or you may have the priority to purchase special products. So please remember to subscribe our newsletter as well as the social network.
- Introducing 3 High Grown Darjeeling First Flush Teas Produced Using Sustainable Methods
- We have released three types of Darjeeling First Flush, all of which are grown sustainably. The tea gardens are maintained using natural farming methods, and the use of fertilizers is limited when growing the tea trees. As a result, the tea gardens closely resemble their natural state. Unlike common Darjeeling tea, these teas grow slowly, …
- New Release of Tsuge Zairai Sencha from Sustainable Tea Garden
- Tsuge Zairai Sencha 都祁在来煎茶 is made from “zairai” tea plucked in spring, from the naturally farmed tea garden located in Tsuge, Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The tea garden of Tsuge Zairai Sencha is maintained in sustainable manner applying neither pesticide nor fertilizer. Tsuge Zairai Sencha has a subtle and refreshing floral scent with a hint …
NEW ARTICLES
Introducing 3 High Grown Darjeeling First Flush Teas Produced Using Sustainable Methods
- We have released three types of Darjeeling First Flush, all of which are grown sustainably. The tea gardens are maintained using natural farming methods, and the use of fertilizers is limited when growing the tea trees. As a result, the tea gardens closely resemble their natural state. Unlike common Darjeeling tea, these teas grow slowly, …
New Release of Tsuge Zairai Sencha from Sustainable Tea Garden
- Tsuge Zairai Sencha 都祁在来煎茶 is made from “zairai” tea plucked in spring, from the naturally farmed tea garden located in Tsuge, Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The tea garden of Tsuge Zairai Sencha is maintained in sustainable manner applying neither pesticide nor fertilizer. Tsuge Zairai Sencha has a subtle and refreshing floral scent with a hint …
New Release of Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea Cake 2021
- Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2021 is available now. This tea is always very popular in our shop. In Japan, we brought in loose tea this year, and for Malaysia we produced 200g cake. Mao cha before compressing into cake Very limited resources This tea is made from the wild tea, called Camelia taliensis. …
New Release of 2 Types of Darjeeling 1st Flush
- We have released two types of Darjeeling 1st Flush Tea. The reason why the Darjeeling 1st Flush is greenish In Darjeeling tea, the 1st flush refers to the first-plucked spring tea. Usually, the Darjeeling 1st Flush tea is greenish. From the outlook, it looks like a green tea. Many people misunderstand that it is green …
Gushu Dian Hong, The Rare Yunnan Black Tea made from Ancient Tea Tree
- The characteristic of Gushu Dian Hong is its intense aftertaste, and this is far better than ordinary black tea. Dian Hong means Yunnan Black Tea Yunnan black tea is called “Dian Hong” in Chinese. “Dian” means Yunnan, and “Hong” means black tea. Gushu means Ancient Tree in Chinese. After all, Gu Shu Dian Hong means …
Limited Release of Single Tree Raw Pu-erh Tea from Pine Forest Ancient Tea Garden
- We have released Pine Forest Single Tree Raw Pu-erh 2019. This tea was made from the fresh tea leaves collected from very old tea trees grown under the shade of the pine forest. The tea trees are more than 300 years old. It is a good chance for you to experience the distinctive characteristic of …
New Release of Wu Jia Zhai Raw Pu-erh Tea 2018 Loose
- We have released Wu Jia Zhai Raw Pu-erh Tea. It is a Loose Tea (Mao-cha). This tea was made in 2018 and has been aged for nearly three years. Thanks to the aging, it has developed more distinctive flavour with sweet scent of sugar cane and dried fruits. Sustainable Tea Garden at high altitude of …
New Release of Tong Mu Shui Xian Black Tea
- We have released very rare black tea, Tong Mu Shui Xian Black Tea. This tea is from Tong Mu Guan in Wuyishan, Fujian Province, China. The tea garden is located at 1000m above sea level, and the tea garden is totally sustainable, the tea trees are grown without pesticide and fertilizer. Tong Mu Shui Xian …
New Release of Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2020
- We have launched Da Xue Shan Wild White Tea 2020, in loose tea. For Malaysia, we release the 200g cake version. This year, we have made major improvements in the raw material, producer, and production method, resulting in a very satisfying quality. However, the production volume is extremely small; it will likely to be sold …
Limited Release of Yunnan 10 Years Vintage Black Tea 2010
- We release 10-year vintage Yunnan black tea. This tea was produced in 2010 and aged in Yunnan for 8 years in aerobic storage. We bought this year in 2018, and it has been aged in Japan and Malaysia for two years in anoxic storage condition. The production area is very near to the Myanmar border …
Shop Info

Address:Lot No. T-215, 3rd Floor, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2287-4537
Business Hour: 10am to 10pm
Category
- New Arrival at HOJO Online Shop
- Featured Articles
- Newsletter
- Types of Tea
- Origin of Tea
- Teapot and Tea Equipment
- Tea Column
- How to enjoy tea
- Tea Processing
- How to choose quality tea
- Tea constituents and functional effect
- Safety of Tea
- Foods
- Tea Business Operation
- Hobby and Outdoor Activity
- Ranking of Tea
- Video
- FAQ
- Media Release
Profile

- AKIRA HOJO
- I invite you to experience my tea selections.I was born in Nagano, Japan. In university, I studied agricultural chemistry, and I have the master degree in food science. I worked in Japanese food industry for 10 years. I involved in R&D, QC and QA. As a factory manager, I implemented ISO9000 series and managed the factory.
- The Art of Tea Magazine
- We posted the article on “The Art of Tea Magazine No.9, the magazine is published in Taiwan. We featured some scientific view about the tetsubin
- New Straits Times
- The Malaysian National Newspaper, New Straits Times featured HOJO Tea on 17-Oct-2007.