I broke a lot of rules today. Some of them were my rules. Some of them were tea rules. But everything came out okay!
The first rule I broke was – no tea on an empty stomach. This is my rule. I have a sensitive stomach, a dodgy esophagus, and I can get heartburn looking at a bowl of chili. I wasn’t hungry and I wanted tea, so RULE DISREGARDED.
The second rule I broke was – rinse puerh leaves and discard the rinse water. I confess I break this rule a lot. Sometimes I am glad, sometimes not. This time – oh yeh, glad. That first steep was delish. I kept it oh so short and sweet. Golden color, scent of menthol, smooth, and sweet.
Steep two – didn’t time it! Another broken rule! This is golden and rich in color and LIVELY on the tongue. So much energy in this tea! Like a precocious but adorable pre-teen that you love spending time with but who maybe wears you out a little in big doses.
Steep three – ah, you are a nice tea with a bite of thin cinnamon cookie. Still golden. Still lively.
Steep four – with lunch now. A bit mellower and lovely with food. Hay, white tea-ish but with a vibrant energy. Bright and raw. Go to their website to learn in depth about each tea they carry!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Wymm Tea
Description
This sheng pu-erh brews a bright golden liquor. It has notes of cut hay and earth in its aroma, complimented with a bold almond, buttery flavour.
We were lucky enough to obtain some of these huangpian which give insights into the highly sought after Bingdao Laozhai sheng pu-erh. Bingdao Laozhai is a place renowned in the Yunnan tea industry. Situated at 1400-2000 meters mountaintops, it is the one and only high altitude village occupied by Dai minority group in the Mengku town region. The price of pu-erh from this village would go into the thousands due to the extremely limited supply. Please visit our Bingdao Laozhai pu-erh blog post to learn more about it.
These huangpian are picked from the same trees as the Bingdao Laozhai, the only difference being that it is less aesthetically pleasing; the bigger leaves (huangpian) are filtered out so that the remaining leaves are neat and symmetrical when pressed into cakes. These bigger leaves are often kept by the tea farmers for personal consumption and are rarely found in the market. Even though the huangpian do not have the tidy appearance of its counterparts, it possesses similar taste characteristics and are sometimes considered more flavourful as the leaves spent longer period of time growing on the trees.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea
2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea is a sheng pu-erh that brews up to be a lovely shade of glowing gold-light brown color. Right away I could smell the outdoorsy aroma – more specifically cotton and hay.
As for the flavor 2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea has a sweeter-earthy flavor with the aftertaste of subtle almond. I have found that I like the flavor best after the piping hot pu-erh has had about 10 minutes to cool at room temperature. The flavors of the 2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea really stand out after about 10 minutes or so.
2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea is a VERY pleasant pu-erh. The more I sip it the more I really like it and the more I seem to crave more. Another thing I should mention is that 2014 Bingdao Laozhai Huangpian from Wymm Tea is pretty thirst-quenching! This isn’t a strong -fueled pu-erh but of the more delicate flavor type. I can see this one pleasing the masses! It certainly did, me!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu-eh
Where to Buy: Wymm Tea
Description:
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
2010 Spring Kunlu Mountain from Wymm Tea (Ancient Tea Pu-Erh)
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-Erh
Where to Buy: Wymm Tea (Ancient Tree Pu-Erh)
Tea Description:
Kunlu Mountain is located within Ning’er Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture county in Pu’er city. Kun means “valley” and lu means “sparrow” in Dai minority group’s language, together Kunlu means a valley inhabited with sparrows. Kunlu Mountain sits at the end of the Wuliang mountain range, where Lancang and Honghe rivers divide. Kunlu Mountain’s altitude ranges between 1410 and 2271 meters, and is considered one of the higher mountains within Pu’er city region. A combination of early-cultivated and wild-grown trees forms the ancient tea tree forest, which covers 10,122 mu (equivalent to 6.75 sqkm) on the mountain.
Kunlu Mountain once served as imperial tea garden for the Qing emperors over 200 years. After successful bureaucratization of Cheli Xuanweisi in 1729, E’ertai (Ortai), the governor-general of Yunnan-Guizhou-Guangxi tri-province, established a tribute tea factory in Ning’er village, Pu’er Fu (known nowadays as Xishuangbanna). Every year, only the best and most delicate tea buds harvested from Kunlu Mountain in early spring were sent into this factory, in which they were carefully pressed into shapes or processed into paste. These products were presented in front of the Qing emperors after a 6-month, 4100-km route done solely on horseback. These products were carefully supervised by feudal officials and guarded by soldiers.
Taster’s Review:
This 2010 Spring Kunlu Mountain from Wymm Tea (Ancient Tea Pu-Erh) doesn’t appear to be listed on the Wymm Tea shop any longer. There is, however, a Pu-Erh called Kunlu Sheng Pu-Erh from Ancient Tree 2010 Spring which I can only assume could be comparable. Don’t quote me on that because I haven’t tried that offering yet.
I mainly wanted to mention this offering from Wymm Tea because it was the very first Pu-Erh experience I had from this company and it was a great one. This Pu-Erh is right up my alley. It’s not the muddy-thick-wormy-earthy-tar like pu-erh that I have had from other companies. This is more of a gentler-earthy yet semi-floral Pu-Erh experience. I think this is a great Pu-Erh to start with if you are trying them for the first time. It will NOT scare you away from Pu-Erhs as a whole and will NOT make you pre-judge other Pu-Erh’s but at the same time it’s very pleasing and will set a standard for other Pu-Erh’s. This is very well-done and I can’t wait to try additional offerings from Wymm Tea!
Mangnuo Cane Tea Raw Pu-erh (Ancient Tree Early Spring 2014) from Wymm Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Wymm Tea
Tea Description:
This is Wymm’s signature tea. It is a sheng pu-erh that brews bright golden with a rich and sweet flavour, and with the aroma of fresh-cut grass in the morning. For the initial 6 steeps, there is a pronounce bitter taste that lingers in back of the tongue with hints of astringency, which are slowly replaced with a bold honey aftertaste. The liquor is heady because of the ultra concentrated nutrients in this tea. Each serving of this tea can be steeped up to 20 times.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Good stuff! This Mangnuo Cane Tea Raw Pu-erh (Ancient Tree Early Spring 2014) from Wymm Tea is really nice.
I’m only on my first cup at the moment, but I’m really enjoying the strong sugary notes to this cup. I taste subtle notes of grass and a light astringency. It has a pleasant, light flavor overall, with the most forward notes tasting sweet – like something in between a sugary molasses and honey.
My second infusion was even nicer than the first. The sweet notes seem to be even stronger. I’m picking up on some delicate floral notes. The astringency is still there and it seems to be developing. There is a distinct dry note toward the finish. Vegetal notes are more defined now too, with a slight bitterness toward the finish. Not an off-putting bitterness, but more of a savory bitterness to contrast with the sugary sweet notes.
My third infusion was very much like the second. The fourth infusion was my favorite – the flavors became smoother and I found the astringency starting to wane. It wasn’t quite as sweet, but there was a nice balance between sweet, hints of bitter and light grassy tones. It was really quite pleasant.
The fifth infusion was pleasantly mellow. Sweet and refreshing taste. Hints of grass but very little bitterness. Just smooth, mellow sweetness. Later infusions began to pick up on the astringency again and since I’m not a big fan of the astringency, especially with such a mellow tea, I decided to stop with seven infusions.
Overall, a very pleasant pu-erh. I liked that it didn’t have a strong, earthy character nor was I experiencing a briny or fishy sort of flavor. Just a really pleasant vegetal note and some really remarkable sweet tones. It’s quite nice.
