Norbu Tea

Like the 2009 vintage, this is a glorious tea, rich, sweet, floral, a little spicy, and all around brilliant. Tonight I ran out of bladder capacity and hot water at the 6th infusion, but I have little doubt that it will keep going well beyond that.

I used 1 gram of tea per ounce/30mL of 190 degree water, for 30 seconds, and gradually increase the infusions to a couple of minutes by the 10th or so.

(TTB 1.2)

Pretty tasty, good classic oolong aromas and flavors. Kinda floral and vegetal. The liquor is much lighter than I expected and I’m not getting as much flavor as I expected or would like. Although, the lightness can be kinda pleasing since it isn’t too overwhelming. Even though, I think I may try another infusion to see what else I can get from it.

BTW, I have been drinking tea since my last tasting note, I’ve just been really bad about logging them. More to come + probably some backlogs…

Smoky, earthy, delicious, sweet, a very mellow bulk brewing this afternoon, when I decided I didn’t want shu pu again in the thermos.

Tried to brew some of this up tonight, and am so frustrated. It smells so good, and tastes so good, but I burnt my tongue on some pizza today, and I can’t take the heat tonight. Bummer.

I’ve already brewed this one a time or two, but didn’t take many notes. I was particularly interested in this one because it is from a famous name factory and it is a raw sheng, not a ripe shu.

I started with little more than I really wanted—that’s the way the beeng broke—4.2 grams into a 75mL gaiwan. Rinsed with boiling water for a good 20 seconds, because the beeng was fairly tightly compressed. Giving it a couple of minutes to hydrate before the first infusion.

A first infusion at 200+ degrees and 20 seconds was a bit unpleasantly strong, as I was forgetting the very concentrated starting material. Should have broken it up into smaller bits, because this really is too much tea for the gaiwan. Regrouping with a 10 second infusion (measuring to the start of the pour from the gaiwan), now the flavors are still strong, but the sweetness is more apparent, along with earthiness and a hint of smoky. The liquor is a pale amber. And because it is infused in boiling water, I have to remember to wait, to not burn my tongue—brewing cooler green, white, and oolong teas there is no such wait required, and it’s hard to discipline myself when the first sips are so nice. 2nd infusion is earthy/sweet/smoky/caramel/vegetal. 3rd, 4th, 5th are very similar, as long as I remember to keep them extra short because of the excess of leaf.

The leaves are fairly broken up, a medium olive green with hints of reddish tints here and there.

I’d recommend a more typical 1 gram per ounce/30mL leaf to water ratio, short infusions with hot water, and a good long time available to enjoy the many infusions from this tea. It is a stronger than my favorite white bud sheng puerh, earthier with more astringency, a deeper rounder flavor overall.

Quite a nice tea, and one that I think I will keep checking in on from time to time, to see how it matures. That’s in part because I currently have more puerh than I can drink in a reasonable period of time, but also because it’s a famous label tea that I expect to be able to find information and comparisons for in years to come.

An exceptionally nice session with this tea yesterday, brewed up a thermos full and still the leaves had power for a few more infusions. It was sweet and spicy and there is a new earthiness starting to appear, and the smoky starting flavor is less apparent. And now, the dilemma: continue drinking, or stop and wait a year or three more? I like it so very much as is…..

Enjoying a gongfu session with this tea again. I love the mildly smoky start and the sweet finish, and tonight, I just forgot the third or fourth infusion as I was doing something else, returned five minutes later, and it was a little overdone—improved with a bit of dilution—but even before dilution, not bitter. I think this is one whose maturation would be interesting to follow, but I will probably drink it all, bit by bit, long before it is old enough to vote.

Working on a nice gongfu session with this tea. I do have to be a bit careful, as Greg suggests, to avoid bitterness, but most infusions are delicious, sweet, a little smoky, earthy, a little fruity, very nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything but bulk brewing with this one, and it’s rewarding to discover it again.

Drank again this afternoon, a thermos full. So very mellow and nice.

This is a tea that demands a little attention and respect, because it can get bitter if you don’t pay attention. But when I get it just right, it is smoky, earthy, sweet, fruity, and delicious. It holds well in the thermos for a day away from home, and it is nice gongfu cha as well.

I’d recommend 1gram of leaf per ounce of water, gongfu cha, starting with a flash rinse of boiling water, then short steeps with water a little cooler, 190-195 degrees.

Some of the leaves are rather dark colored after infusion, but not very purple. And the leaves aren’t fine little buds. But it is a pleasant enough tea for right now, and maybe by the time I finish it (I have so much puerh right now it will be years!), it will be even better.

I wish I know what I did that was so distinctive, but recently I brewed up the best infusion of this tea ever. I did it a little carelessly, in bulk, for my thermos, so can’t be sure of the exact parameters. But it was floral, vegetal, and sweet, so delicately perfect that people were asking for seconds and it didn’t sit in the thermos long enough to lose that fresh-brewed perfection.

Wow.

This is a favorite green tea. There is a slightly peachy/fruity/camphor note in this tea that is distinct from the nuttier edge of a Dragon Well. Also, this is a particularly mellow tea. It is possible to find bitterness in it, but you really have to try: very hot water or very long steeps or way concentrated. And it has amazing ‘legs’ for a green tea—I just keep going for 8 or 10 infusions.

I brew this one with a wide range of conditions: the leaves are so light and loose that it’s hard to eyeball accurately, but it’s so forgiving that I’m not often motivated to measure it. Anything from 0.5-1 grams of tea per ounce/30mL water, water from 160-180 degrees, steep time 15 seconds (for high concentration/hotter water/early steeps) to more than a minute (lower concentration/cooler water/later steeps). Its a rare green tea that even holds up well with brew-in-advance hold-all-day in the thermos.

(A free sample included with my last order from Norbu)

This is a warm, dark, toasty oolong. It reminds me a lot of the Tung Ting I got from TenRen, and my longtime companion SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin. First impression is just toasty, roasty, dark, woody. Then it starts to open up a little, fruity, sweet, complex.

I started 185 degree water, 3.5 grams of tea in one of my larger yixing pots, but not filling fully—trying to keep it to about 1 gram leaf to 1 oz water. Each new infusion, the first impression is the toastedness, then the fruity sweetness becomes apparent after a few sips, as those the toasty tastebuds are getting saturated and there is attention available to notice the sweet fruity backdrop. Later infusions more quickly drop the toasted mask, and show these flavors sooner.

I think I might prefer this with a little less roast, so that I get to the sweet/fruity sooner. I agree with Greg’s description of the very smooth rich feeling of the liquor, and the remarkably pleasant aftertaste.

A nice session with this tea this evening—sweet, mellow, a little hint of floral, just pleasant and nice: started 160 degrees, up to 180 degrees after 5-6 infusions.

Drinking it again today, right after a particularly nice set of infusions of Dragon well, and having drunk some of the Jin Xuan green tea last night, and it does have a subtly different flavor that is not particularly like those greens, or quite like a green oolong either. Can’t put a name to it yet, though.

Another very fine brewing of this tea. This time it was a gaiwan for gongfu cha, and it responded beautifully. I started with water at 170 degrees, and the first infusion sat a while because I was interrupted; by the time I was free to drink it, it was not very hot or very good. After that, I brief infusions from 10 seconds increasing gradually to one minute, water from 160-170 degrees, and the flavor has a lovely warmth that is almost oolong-ish, but still a bit of astringency and with that first messed up infusion, some distinct bitterness marking it as something closer to a green tea than an oolong. Still haven’t had the best I think it can give, but if my next infusion can take place without interruption or audience, I should get it right. I would start a little cooler, with 160, then moving warmer as I continue to infuse.

What a lovely mellow tea. I started out with what looked like a small volume of green leaves in my kamjove, which had little scent, then added water and there was a strong scent of green peas. Lovely. The leaves expanded to fill their chamber almost entirely. The first steep was a little long and ended up overconcentrated, and I did find a little bitterness in it; but when I finished up a thermos full from these leaves, it ended up as essence of summer hay, warm and mellow, just lovely.

I can see this will be a keeper. I think it will be particularly nice of an evening, to keep infusing while doing paperwork, semi-gongfu cha, but also is going to be lovely for a thermos full when I have to be away from my desk for half a day or more. But I will watch that first steep.

I was particularly pleased with this one because I recently tried some “silver needle yellow tea” from Hunan which was just unbearably bitter for me, very unlike the couple of wonderful yellow teas I’ve had from other sources.

It’s been nearly a year since I took notes on this one. It has sat in its wrapper, in a cloth bag, in a file drawer in my air-conditioned office for the past year. I’ve dipped into this a few times since last year, and this time I’m using a piece that, when hydrated, fills the gaiwan between 1/3 and 1/2 full. I started with a flash rinse, let the tea hydrate/wet a bit, then have been enjoying a series of quick, hot infusions—the Pino is set to 205, and I’ve been infusing 10-20 seconds, and mostly drinking them down very quickly. Lots of herbaceous flavor, sweetness, anise, but little outright bitterness. It’s just delicious, and again, the biggest problem I foresee with this aging experiment may be trying to drink it sparingly enough to keep some around for a long time.

This has been a bit of a breakthrough tea for me. I first tried it as a sample and was put off by the bitterness. Then I tried it again as part of a tasting group and worked out a way to enjoy it: I prepare it like a green tea—lower water temps. The bitterness is still there around the edges but I slurp this one up, avoiding tasting right with the tip of my tongue, and get the wonderful sweet rich flavor in the back of my throat, a little smoky, a touch earthy, and go through infusion after infusion.

I bought a beeng of this one because I want to age it and follow the changes to see how the bitter flavors change with time. I am not working with selected temp & humidity conditions, nor did I buy multiple beengs—just playing with the idea of aging more than anything else.

I like to give this one a quick boiling water flash rinse, then let sit to hydrate with the water that clings to the chunk of cake, about 2-3 grams in my small gaiwan, infusing about 60-75 mL, while the water in the kettle cools to the desired 170-180 degrees. Then, a bunch of short infusions, 10" or less at first, up to 30+" by the time I’ve done a dozen or two.

I’ve even done this one as a bulk brewing for my thermos, to share with colleagues at work during the afternoon, and gotten a good response. The hard part will be keeping enough intact for some semi-meaningful aging, to watch the young sheng turn into mature puerh.

This one looked just too unique not to try!

It’s so hard to describe these buds so please look at the product pic!

Prior to infusion it has a mellow floral-candied-sweet smell. Post infusion…a sweet carrot smell is what I thought about first with a little sweet spring floral scent and almost a sweet chocolate hint or something…I know…totally random and really strange. :)

This is completely white in color but it’s very flavorful! It’s an extremely clean and sweet taste – very hydrating!

This is a tea you will have to try even if only for the experience! This will be in the “make-up” TTB! So…be on the look out!!!

Only one tasting note for this tea? I’ve nearly finished my 50g pouch of it. It continues to be a lovely, giving tea, mellow and wonderful, and I expect to keep teas like it in my regular rotation, as long as I can find them. It’s enough of an oddity that I can easily imagine it vanishing.

After a question came up about whether this was an oolong or a green tea, I decided to check by brewing again, and it was clearly behaving like a green tea, less tempermental than most, but clearly a lovely sweet delicate green tea, with just enough astringency to confirm its green nature.

Again finding this is one lovely green tea. I’ve been brewing it like an oolong, covering the bottom of my small gaiwan with the rolled leaves, and finding that they expand to intact leaves that mostly fill it. I use cooler water—160-170 degrees—because it is a green tea, and the flavor is more vegetal and less floral than the green oolongs, but it is as easy and flexible and forgiving in terms of slightly variable quantities of leaf to water, and varied steep times from 15 seconds to a minute or quite a bit more with later steepings. The steeps thus do vary in flavor and intensity but are never bitter despite that. I’ve brewed up several green teas in the past day (shincha!, korean green, dragon well) and each of those has reminded me that they need attention and respect to remain mellow and pleasant. This one just stays mellow regardless of my fumblings. Love that!

Edited: still haven’t reached the end of the flavor from these leaves, now at least 8-10 steepings in. I do like my teas somewhat diluter than many, but this is still amazing for a green tea. Very oolong-like in this too.