A couple days ago I drank some of the most interesting looking puerh I’ve ever had my hands on. The leaves were braided/pleated together, so I had about four little puerh braids in my gaiwan. They never really came all the way undone. This one is courtesy of Liquid Proust from some time ago. The dry leaf had a bit of a straw aroma with a bit of smoke and wood. After a rinse, it smelled like wet burnt hay. I wasn’t expecting much from this tea to be honest – figured it was just a novelty thing.
The first two steeps were pretty light, as those tea braids were still holding together pretty well. It started off light and a bit grassy though I noticed a milky texture pretty early on. It got a bit more earthy with the second steep, and I noticed a bit of a honey sweetness.
Starting on the third steep, that honey sweetness exploded. One of the strongest honey-tasting teas I’ve ever had. That honey flavor took over and was the predominant note of this tea for most of the session – and it went a solid 13 steeps. Around steep 7, it got a bit of a straw note to it which wasn’t particularly sweet – kind of bitter almost.
I was pretty impressed with this tea and glad I got to try it. No idea where it came from, what year it’s from, etc. If I had to guess on the year, I’d probably say no older than 2010, but probably even younger than that. Origin – my best guess would be Jingmai. Thanks for this one LP!
