Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Master Han is excited to share his fresh, just picked 2014 harvest pu’er. This gorgeous wild-picked, loose leaf sheng pu’er is a unique opportunity to taste the pure, bright flavor notes of a young tea that is full of energy, smooth and absolutely ready to drink.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Back in March, I reviewed the Master Han’s 2013 Wild-Picked Sheng Pu’er Tea which was included in the February Amoda Tea box. I really enjoyed that Pu’er, so I was only too happy to sample and review the 2014 offering from Master Han. I figured if I liked that tea, I’d like this one too. I’m in good hands with Master Han.
The aroma of the dry leaf is interesting and appealing to me, because it doesn’t have the kind of earthy aroma that I would normally associate with a pu-er. Even a very young pu-er often has an earthy scent. And I do smell a slight hint of earthiness, but, it’s not the same type of earthy aroma that I would usually smell with a pu-er. The usual scent is earthy, as in earth … as in dirt. But I don’t smell that kind of earthiness here. This is more like a mossy kind of earthiness, like the kind of fragrance you’d experience if walking through a damp wooded area here in the Pacific Northwest (and we’ve got a lot of damp wooded areas up here). It’s more vegetal than earthy, and I like that.
The flavor is very refreshing! It is sweet and mild, tasting very different from what I would normally expect from a pu-er. Sure, I often expect a sweet and mellow flavor, but, this is just different. It seems to perk up the taste buds as it washes over the palate, it’s almost like a champagne-y, bubbly type of uplifting flavor. I’m not getting quite the creamy flavor that I experienced with the 2013 version of this tea.
This time, I taste rice. Like the sticky rice that I’d get in an inverted bowl shape on my plate at a Chinese food restaurant, with notes of sweet, buttery corn. Rather than the sweet, creamy notes that I experienced with the 2013 pu-er, I taste more of a sweet, starchy sort of flavor that is quite compelling. There are some hints of nutty flavors as well, like a creamy cashew flavor – unsalted and not roasted. I feel like I’m eating rather than sipping, and it’s a very satisfying experience. This is the tea I’d want to drink if I were feeling hungry and it was still a little while before mealtime.
The second infusion was not quite as softly, creamy sweet from the starchy flavor. Those flavors are still there, but they are not quite as up front and obvious as they were in the first infusion. With the first infusion, it was all about those flavors, and this time, they seem to have settled back into the background to allow the palate to explore what other flavors this tea has to offer.
This cup feels thicker in texture, but it’s not as creamy. It’s more like a soup or a broth this time, whereas the first infusion was more like an infusion of rice, corn and barley. This infusion has some dry mineral notes to it. I pick up on some gentle floral tones and some warm spice notes with this infusion as well.
The third infusion delivered another very interesting cup! This is where some of the promised miso flavors that I read about in the tasting notes on the website came through. Still a delightfully brothy cup, I’m picking up on some savory notes this time around. I taste more of the aforementioned sweet corn notes too which is a nice contrast to the savory broth notes. There is still some of the dry, mineral notes as well, but they are less prevalent now.
Each infusion seems to deliver a deeper flavor with some new profiles to discover, but with subtle reminders of what was experienced in the earlier infusions. This tea is truly an adventure waiting to be be taken. If you are one who is curious to try pu-er, this is a good place to start for the simple reason that it doesn’t possess some of the characteristics that often turn people off when it comes to pu-er. And if you’re an experienced pu-er drinker, this is one you should try if for no other reason than to experience the quality of Master Han and Verdant Tea.
