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I came back to this tea after several weeks of drinking a fair bit of sheng puerh, and preparing a few orders of tea from Norbu and other suppliers, and thinking to myself that I have at least come to sufficient understanding of my preferences regarding puerh to skip the shu sections of their web sites. And today, I wanted a less demanding tea but wanted a puerh. So I worked loose a few little nuggets and brewed up a thermos of this tea.

It’s a lovely reminder of how nice shu can be: first impressions are delicately sweet and fruity, hints of cherries, plums, grapes, a bit of caramel. It has always been nice, but this is the best infusion yet. So nice. And this is a quart of tea from perhaps 5 or 6 g of nuggets that were still so dense and tight after about 10 minutes of hydration and infusions that there surely is a lot more flavor to be recovered in additional infusions, as the tight bits open up more.

Temp 200-212 degrees, infusions 1 minute or so, but really, there is no hint of bitterness or astringency, so infusion time is entirely up to your preference. The tea liquor is a deep ruby red, quite beautiful even in my rather use-stained Kamjove infuser.

Leaves are dark, tightly rolled, some stems, toasty dark tart scent.

1.5 grams of tea into 60mL gaiwan, water 180 degrees, rinse x 15 seconds, then 20 second steep: first impression is spicy, interesting, but oops, before I can form a proper opinion, I am thirsty and it is gooood, gulp, gone. 2nd infusion is a little spicy, a little sweet, a lot toasty-roasty, but there is a smoothness here even in the 2nd infusion that often takes 4 or 5 infusions to achieve in a more assertive Wuyi rock tea or even my old supermarket brand Ti Kuan Yin. And there’s no sense that a bitterness or astringency is just around the corner if I am careless with times or temps.

I was interrupted and have lost count of the infusions, but I am pretty sure the current one is 9 or 10. The flavor is more dilute now, but there is still some sweetness and a little something else that is very Ti-Kuan-Yin-like. And the flavor was smooth but still quite definite out to the 7th or 8th infusion—that smooth 2nd infusion carried over without turning to water at the 3rd or 4th.

After the infusions, the leaves are unrolled, but still very crumply and twisted, with a dark brown color and a charcoal scent: with some determination they can be coaxed and pressed and flattened into medium sized, quite intact leaves.

Nice nice tea, need to get my order in before I post this, people order it all, and Greg runs out!

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.

I got a free sample of this with an order from Norbu, and it’s a pretty nice tea. I’ll be ordering more with my next order.

I did a detailed review of it compared to another Taiwain black tea here:

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/TwoBlacksTaiwan7.10.html

I did two rounds of tasting—one dilute (1 gram to 2 oz boiling water) and one more concentrated (2.5 grams to the same), and found it was still not bitter at the more concentrated level. Fruity, sweet, nice. But I would not let it sit, because bitterness can develop if the steeped tea waits too long.

Got a sample of this in a tea swap, and compared it to another Taiwan black tea here:

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/TwoBlacksTaiwan7.10.html

This was a nice sweet fruity black tea, not bitter, but if the brewed tea sits, it may develop bitterness.

I got a free sample of this with my last order from Norbu, and tonight, when my tongue was overdone with tasting several puerhs together, I tried just a pinch of it as a change of pace. I prepared it with probably about half a gram of tea to 2 oz boiling water (it was late, and I didn’t want to be up all night), and after about 2 minutes steep the liquor was deep orange red, and delicious. Fruity, sweet, no astringency at all (not that I expected any, really, given the dilution I started with), and a second infusion was equally delightful. Not sure about the wine-like aspect, but this was a quick & dirty sipping, so I’ll have to try it again, more carefully, and take better notes to see if I can identify that.

I will certainly get a little more of this tea for a change of pace, and I suspect it will make a nice alternative to my golden Yunnans for take-a-thermos-to-work days.

I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, since I first tried it as part of a tasting on egullet.org, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared.

2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan

This is my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!

Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.

Tasting setup

Used 1.0 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwans
Infusions 205°F/96°C-212°F/100°C
2 rinses at about 10 seconds each, before first 10 second infusions

2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems, sweet woody anise scent
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet anise flavor predominates
Liquor, 2nd infusion: the anise sweetness continues to make this one mellower than the other two
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: still the mellowest of them, even after the dregs in the cup sat a bit and bitterness started to come into play; how is it that the youngest is the least harsh?
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, still that lovely hint of anise
Wet Leaves: olive green leaves with reddish accents, woody earthy spicy scent

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/ShengMaoChaTasting7.31.10.html

I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, since I first tried it as part of a tasting on egullet.org, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared.

2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan

This is my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!

Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.

*Actually, turns out the LBZ is sold out. Greg tells me that the Lao Ban Pen Mao Cha on the site is very close, and maybe better. I have a hard time believing anything could be better, but as good, maybe….

Tasting setup

Used 1.0 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwans
Infusions 205°F/96°C-212°F/100°C
2 rinses at about 10 seconds each, before first 10 second infusions

2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan

Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems, scent sweet and vegetal and like clean earth
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet, vegetal, bit of astringency
Liquor, 2nd infusion: spicy, herbaceous, sweet with astringency and some bitterness
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: sweet, earthy, again, a little spicy/herbaceous accent that in addition to and distinct from the astringency that forms part of the aftertaste of the LBZ
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, mellow
Wet Leaves: olive leaves with reddish accents, sweet spicy vegetal scent

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/ShengMaoChaTasting7.31.10.html

Compared this to two other loose puerh Mao Cha from Norbu today.

2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan

I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared. This was my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are all wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!

Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.

*Actually, turns out the LBZ is sold out. Greg tells me that the Lao Ban Pen Mao Cha on the site is very close, and maybe better. I have a hard time believing anything could be better, but as good, maybe….

2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems, scents of mushrooms, soy sauce, darker than the Shi Tou Xin Jai
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet and vegetal
Liquor, 2nd infusion: spicy, sweet, with that smooth earthy depths, and hint of bitterness
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: sweet, earthy, lovely as usual, but the astringency of the aftertaste is definitely present and noticeably more than the Shi Tou or the Wulian
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, earthy
Wet Leaves: olive green leaves of uniform color, sweet, spicy, asparagus scents

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/ShengMaoChaTasting7.31.10.html

Drinking it again after a break, and loving it again so much. I was reading a typically excellent article by Harold McGee in the NYT (link http://tinyurl.com/24rs3zw) in which he discusses the power of dilution to enhance flavor. I think this may be a tea where that really holds true. Many many very short steeps bring out a sweetness and richness of flavor in this tea without the bitterness that can overwhelm with shorter steeps. Works for me!