Old Bush Tea (Lao Cong Cha)

It is common to see tea sites advertise that they have "old bush" or "lao cong" tea. On its own, using the phrase "old bush" is marketing terminology only. Some tea shops will sell tea as lao cong that comes from ten year old bushes, even though no serious tea purveyor would consider this to be an old bush.

All of our old bush tea is the real deal. We only designate a tea bush as old if it over one hundred years of age. We work closely with our Chinese friends to ensure that such information is authentic.

Old bush teas tend to have a richer range of flavors compared to plantation grown teas. Moreover, older tea trees produce leaves vastly different chemical compositions compared to younger trees, even within the same tea cultivar. The altered leaf chemistry affects both the flavor and claimed health benefits of the tea. We recommend that customers compare an old bush tea side-by-side with a similar younger bush tea to see how they perceive the differences between their tastes, mouthfeels, and sensory experiences.