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Pleasant Daily drinker

Typically wood-centric shu pu with a little hint of complexity. I smelled a hint of raspberry from the gaiwan and tasted a very slight rosey sweetness in the background, otherwise a typical light-medium fermentation that will most likely improve with age.

annnnd this session was completely different I had shorter steepings which helped the “soapy” taste vanish but the liquor was no longer a darker reddish hue and now it was a deep honey. It didn’t help that I used 3 different types of water (spring, alkaline, filtered tap) in the same session but this time I had none of the dark fruity tastes and mianly just a generic sheng puer slight sweetness.

The only things that have held constant through all steeping of both session is it bubbles every steepings, not tea scum per say but definite bubbles maybe higher sapponin content? and also none of the steepings were ever bitter. Another interesting twist is that I read on yunnan sourcing this area has some “Camellia Taliensis growing in Jing Gu’s red soil has prominent large fat leaves and hairy white buds. Tea from this region is well-known for it’s beautiful appearance, and tea sellers have been know to blend this tea with Yi Wu tea to make it more beautiful and bright in appearance while at the same time bolstering it’s sweetness and thickness.”

so maybe this species has isnt own unique characteristics? and maybe that’s why it’s a cheaper price?

Not too bad

I was not expecting much with this tea but I was quite surprised. It definitely made the spicy yunnan profile with later steepings becoming sweeter raisin like so nothing too new and exciting but the body was pleasing. The leaves were full majority of them were unbroken also each steeping had little to no tea scum bubbles which was a nice for hongcha. I was surprised by the mouth filling body and silky smooth feeling going down. If the price dropped significantly I would buy a bunch of this and make it my go to yunnan for sure but I have trouble shelling out $5/oz when yunnan sourcing will give me the same for 3.5 oz. While it is not 3.5x better than any yunnan sourcing teas I do like this tea and will gladly enjoy the rest of the sample I have.

Typical yunnan flavor profile but a nice body and mouthfeel but too expensive for my wallet.

Your what hurts?

Too much confusion drinking this tea. The leaves look very dark and the liqour looked to be from puer at least 3-4 years older??? Every steep baffled me I will have to come back to this one. I can say it was on the dark fruitier end and VERY minerally almost metallic. Strange after every cup my brain couldn’t register anything flavor wise so I slammed cup after cup. I can also be certain it had a Very nice longevity as a result but I would say next time use more leaf but keep flash steepings the whole time longer steeps had a soapy taste. Nice silky feel and thirst quenching rather than throat drying.

?Glad I got a full oz sample no way I can figure this tea out in one go.

No reference point

This is my first jingmai was I not sure how to rate it. The leaves are supposedly spring gushu so I assume this is a good a place to start as any. The dry leaves smelled of salad greens and slight tobacco coupled with a more dominant “young sheng pu” smell. The first few steepings were muddled with the teas potential. The tea had a decent amount of complexity unfortunately it was not a flavor profile I enjoy. The dominant flavor reminded me of fall not that I am claiming autumn harvest but the raw leaves literally tasted like when I was a child raking leaves and remember getting some accidentally in my mouth. It was not the sheng puer leaves taste I am familiar with closer to whatever tree leaves we have here in north america. The first few steepings I tasted a slight bitterness similar to bitter green vegetables nothing unbearable and a quick astringency. Also I tasted a strong mineral/wet stone mid way through (maybe this is the gushu root system) and followed by a slight woodiness it finished with a super quick sweetness that you’d miss if you blinked. The body was not super heavy although the viscosity pouring from the gaiwan was on the slow end. After the 4rd steeping or so the astringency vanished but a slight leave bitterness remained. Towards the end of the session the sweetness become more apparent although still not super intense or long lasting, it is still hiding behind the main taste of “fall” leaf. I hope this is not the jingmai profile while the memories the taste invoked of childhood were pleasant the taste maybe me think of stopping raking to spit out leaves in a dramatic manner. Forgot to mention in the earlier steepings the liquor did slide down the sides of the tongue but only slightly. The cha qi was calm and soothing with a slow creeping effect that I almost didnt notice had it not been so bright outside(mild fish eye lens vision).

While I do not dislike this tea and see some of its admirable qualities I will not be purchasing any of this especially since I have a few more jingmai samples from william of bannacha to go through.

-Not my bag

These leaves are the tiny curled style similar to bi luo chun. They produced a light green with a tint of yellow liquor or straight yellow depending on steep time/temp. The tastes I got (realizing this is almost a year old and some flavors might have dissipated), was beany I would say cross between lima beans and white great northern beans. A slight sweetness in the first steeping but that was about it. It lasted about average amount of steeping for a green not super longevity but I’ve had one or two teas fade quicker

I personally wouldn’t drink it again not into the beany profile and with so much great tea in my cabinet and only drinking a few a day I cant see myself purchasing or drinking any of the samples I have. Not a terrible tea but not good enough for me personally

If you

I am going to be broke(Paul take all my money)

*Soapbox
I am literally upset I did not find this site earlier. Paul has consistently good tea and honest descriptions with accurate tasting notes. Best of all you get what you pay for which leads me to this tea. I dare you to find a better tea at this price range, it is not the most complex, ethereal elixir of the gods but if you drink enough puer where you go through a few cakes-tong a year this can easily get my vote for staple. I don’t trust myself to store puer yet being in a very dry climate and my rather experimental 75% RH pack semi- sealed storage. Otherwise I would definitely purchase a bunch of this stuff and happily drink there the mountain of samples I have to keep me happy for the a long while.

*Tasting notes
A common theme of this tea seems to be me casually brewing this hungover sunday mornings so I don’t dare to claim to know it but I have picked up on a few consistent pleasant features. First off it steeps better with more leaf/water ratio (usually I go g/15mL of water as a starting point) but with this one closer to g/12-13 mL with good results. I consistently got a sweet taste and a nice slow pouring viscosity the oil present are hinted at the stained cake wrapper. Not as thick as a bu lang but much thicker than say most autumn harvests. The taste was not bitter at all but if you pushed the steeping time it got a little smokey which may or may not be your thing. Very versatile as the just nice sweetness and no smoke is not present if you flash brew. I was not able to taste any fruitiness as I have in the past but my taste buds are fried and it was more casual chug then a slow concentrated “gong fu” session.

A nice middle of the road versatile daily drinker that is priced perfectly and very approachable sweetness that is hard to offend most taste buds. Not super complex, I would say fairly one-note but then again I don’t want to have to concentrate/focus to enjoy some teas.

Bulang buzzing

Wow this is exactly my type of tea. Thick mouth feel, amber honey infusion, quick bitter into slight sweetness, immediately body warming sensation, smell/taste that lasts after the session done, oily weight and viscousity that sloooowly slides down the sides of your tongue……. oh and the tea drunk that could wake the dead! I have come full circle, young bulangs are what I started drinking when I got into puer not liking them at first but the intrigued by their “ying-yang” qualities. By that reference I meant you don’t know sweet until you have tasted bitter, you don’t know thick chunky mouthfeel unless you can bare the astringency and you won’t ever build up a tolerance to enjoy your tea drunk until you have been abused by some good ol’ bulang enough times.

Short and simple yes yes yes. It is bitter it is astringent so be warned if you are into flowery sweet yiwu this is probably not for you.

The lapsang of puer

Tasted like a good Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong but unfortunately that was about it. It was a pleasant incense not to over powering that just faded with every brew. I don’t like the blanket descriptor of "smoke"for a group of people that a literal kaleidoscope of scents and flavors smoke seem fairly general anything that is combustible can produce smoke a few pleasant while most are not. This was actually a pleasant incense light silky type smoke. That was until I under poured the steeped it about 15 seconds too long then woooah it was like cheech and chongs van I immediately dumped the cup. Lesson learned do flash steepings and maybe even less leaf/water ratio than normal as this tea has quite the split personality. Sorry for the one dimensional review but I wasnt able to focus and enjoy this tea to discover the nuances of it. The leaf on the tail after the smoke had cleared tasted slightly bitter the kind you would get from a raw kale of other greeny or maybe a spice like fennel/anise/licorice.

This tea for me was too strong for me to enjoy casually by itself but I can see it pairing well with food as I have in the past drank lapsang after a meal with a creamy rich dessert and it really worked well. I enjoy whiskey and pipe tobacco but neither in the middle of the day so too this tea would be a maybe once or twice a year change of pace but I wont lose sleep over not buying a fangcha(as with some of pauls other teas).

Hate to be cliche but the similarities are too strong, if you like lapsang you will like this tea of not then don’t bother. I like a good mild lapsang from time to time but in a black tea not a puer and on very rare ocassions.

Did too long rinses 30/piece then started steeping. Short and simple this is a typically woodsy puer with a hint of storage and a nice tail of extremely light roast coffee. Just to claify this tastes nothing like roasted coffee rather the grain/cereal quality coffee beans can have when green or very lightly roasted. Maybe a tickle of vanillin that I sometimes get from yan cha as well but if you blink all you taste is woodsy shupu.

Where this tea shines is in the body department, give it some longer than normal steepings times starting with 40 seconds and add 30-40 seconds per steep you will end up with some viscous pleasant tea. I don’t think I can tell it is X years old although in my experience ripened don’t really ever change that much especially if they are heavily fermented from the start. I can see this being awesome grandpa and/western style steeping (after two long rinses that is).

Solid tea with a nice body and a price to match don’t expect miracles and you will enjoy this one.