Gu shu (古樹, gǔshù)
Gu shu (古樹, gǔshù) — "old trees": tea from tea trees a hundred years old or more, growing in Yunnan. Prized for its deep taste, long aftertaste, and pronounced cha qi.
Gu shu is the opposite of the plantation. It refers to trees that grow for decades and centuries, often in old gardens planted by the ancestors of today's owners, or in the semi-wild forests of mountainous Yunnan. The conventional threshold for an "old tree" is usually given as about a hundred years, though there is no strict standard — a fact vendors exploit freely.
Why age matters: an old tree has a deep root system that draws minerals from the lower layers of the soil, its crown yields less leaf, and each leaf comes out richer. Gu shu liquor is usually denser, sweeter, and "longer" than plantation tea, with a powerful hui gan and a tangible cha qi. The famous shengs from Yiwu, Bingdao, or Lao Banzhang are above all old-tree teas, and it is this tea that became the object of the collecting frenzy of recent decades.
The practitioner should keep sober arithmetic in mind: old trees are few, their leaf is expensive, and the words "gu shu" on a wrapper guarantee nothing. Real gu shu is recognized not by the label but by its behavior in the cup: steady strength from infusion to infusion, no hollow grassy harshness, a long sweet trail. If a cake "from old trees" costs the same as ordinary plantation tea, it most likely is ordinary plantation tea.
Teas where this appears
Chinese tea glossary