Tropics 2023 Dong Guo Gushu

Tea: Tropics 2023 Dong Guo Gushu Raw Puer  Type: Raw Puer (生普洱） Harvest: April 2023 Press Date: April 2024 Region: Dong Guo Village, Mengku, Lincang, Yunnan 2024 Tasting Notes: Mango, Sweet Corn, Lemon Cake, Rock Salt, Fresh Mint Dong Guo Village is a lesser known village in the Mengku region of western Lincang, situated between Xiao Hu Sai and Mo Lie, they have a large amount of qiaomu and gushu with a unique rich terroir.  While we didn't like the overly astringent qiaomu (our friend straight-up told us that Dongguo qiaomu isn't worth pressing, and a few tastes made us agree) the gushu was rich, velvety, and luxurious, so we decided to press an entire 200 gram cake of their gushu.  As the name implies, the fragrance off the fresh leaves is juicy and fruity, reminding us of ripe mangos and something meatier.  As the leaves open up, the fruit-juice heavy aromas give way to something more lightly vegetal.  We say lightly vegetal here as in fresh mint and spring grasses, nothing as