Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

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My first visual impression of this compressed green pu-erh was the bottom of the leaf pile I raked to the curb two months ago that the city maintenance crew still hasn’t picked up. The first smell impression was a strong memory of Grandpa Jenkins’ damp cement-block garden shed resplendent with rusty spades and bins of stored potatoes. Which, lest you think otherwise, is not an unpleasant recollection.

Since my sample didn’t come with an instruction manual, I averaged the best advice I could find online and among acquaintances. Starting gingerly with a nugget the size of an unshelled almond, I gave it a quick rinse with hot kettle water. With water just underneath boiling, I steeped the first batch in a two-cup pot for a minute. The garden shed smell was still prominent, but the taste was lighter and mellower than the eau de potting soil I was bracing for. Almost maple-sugar sweet and leafy with a thickness on the tongue that I don’t generally associate with green teas.

The second steep, since I declared myself over my initial apprehension, was allowed to go a whopping extra 30 seconds. Color deepened just one tint from golden to dark amber, and the sweetness intensified equally.

I’ll end this narrative with Steep #3 (2 minutes, 30 seconds), which is still darker, still sweeter, and apparently still viable for several more steeps. As a newbie to the pu-erh spectrum, I think I should skipped Steeps 1 and 2 and just started here.  Thanks, Grand Tea, for providing an afternoon of entertainment and analysis, as well as proof that even an untutored and clumsy tea preparer can learn to appreciate the personality of this unusual variety.

You can purchase the Year 2000 – 7542 Green Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.

This is a 8 year old pu-erh tea from the YiWu mountain area of China. A lot of people don’t know that pu-erh tea is made from leaves picked from tea trees usually wild-grown in the higher mountains and are not from the low-lying cultivated tea bushes. Pu-erh is tea-medicine. In France, medical experiments showed that with regular consumption of pu-erh, blood lipids (cholesterol levels) were lowered by 13% (3 cups/day over one month). Other benefits include cuts in fat consumption and aids in digestion and lymphatic secretions. Pu-erh also invigorates the spleen and dispels toxins.

Grand Tea has provided ample information about this tea. They comment that the Qing Yun Hao tea cake is suitable for long term storage. The cake is well compressed. In fact, I noticed the quality of this tea through the transparent sample pack before opening it. The producer of the tea has left fairly whole leaves despite compacting the tea into a cake. The blackened leaves are not crushed beyond recognition and but this manufacturer promises a good quality leaf.

I used ½ the sample, 5.5 grams in150 ml boiling water with my special Xishing tea pot used only for aged pu-erh. I poured of the first steep after 10 seconds and made additional steeps for 10 seconds there after. The liquor colour is a golden mahogany red, probably much like the tree bark. It is not opaque as the 12 year old sheng pu-erh can be. The liquor smell is a bit like turpentine. If you want to forgo the first 2 steeps, I’ll understand.

Grand Tea tells us the mouth feel is typical Yiwu, soft and gentle, with an aroma and woody taste characteristic of wild trees from 1500 m. high slopes. Indeed when you breath in, there is a cool minty, refreshing cold sensation, typical of high-grown tea. The liquor does have a mellowness to the feel. There is also a slight astringent quality. I was thinking medicinal but really, it is a flavour that is found with some pu-erhs – camphor. The camphor/eucalyptus taste lingers as the aftertaste then resolves pleasantly to “musty leaves in the forest”. There is a slight floral fragrance left in the cup.

Try not to miss the 2nd steep because you will only get about 5 good steeps from this tea unless you go up to 7 grams. Be sure to pour off after 10 seconds or you’ll not get more from the leaf in the later steeps and you don’t want to disappoint yourself.

Speaking about the leaf, the remains were examined. Here, you can see what the blend comprises. The wet leaves are dark-reddish from natural fermentation. I found the typical crinkle in the large leaf, typical of pu-erh. Speaking to the quality of this tea, there were many smaller leaves, some with no bud, and two two leaves on a short stem, leaving me to think the tips were taken from an early bloom (on or around Qing, the festival in early April). “Hao” by the way means good, but in this case, I think it would refer to “good quality”. I speculated that the 2nd and 3rd leaves of the stem may have been added to give some brightness in with some of the older larger leaves. I ended my tea session with a small milk chocolate candy from Pot ‘O Gold that had a bit of hazelnut. It felt like a perfect tea session.

So, “wow”. This tea is more than I expected. I would buy a cake and probably drink about ¼ of it and tuck the rest away for another year or two. Its pricey at $83 USD. for a cake at 343 g’s. However, 100 grams will make you lots of tea too – about 20 sessions using 5 grams of tea with a Xishing pot, or try 7 grams for a richer liquor.

You can purchase the 2003 Qing Yun Hao directly from the Grand Tea website.

When I opened the small bag in which the leaves were held, I was immediately intrigued by how different this sheng pu smelled, compared to other pu’erh I have had recently (including other sheng). The aroma of the dry leaf tends toward more of a mossy smell with some tobacco notes. Definitely a crisp smell.

To start off the process of making this intriguing tea, I rinsed the leaves briefly and then went for a 30 second infusion. (I should mention that I am using a small gaiwan.) A lot of the leaves seem to be a bit broken up, but this could have been on account of some transit issues, as there are quite a few large leaves as well. The smell of the wet leaves still maintains its mossiness, but also smells of coffee and tobacco.

The first steeping produced a very light brew. The smell remains the same, which is why the flavour caught me completely off guard. Very rough edges combine with much stronger tobacco notes to almost overwhelm any remaining moss flavour. Then there comes a bit of a sour taste, which was a bit unpleasant, yet somehow fit with the general flavour of this tea.

Time for the second steeping. While the aroma has not changed at all, the edges of the tea have indeed smoothed out. The sourness still remains a bit on the aftertaste, but is not as prominent anymore. Toasted flavours of tobacco and that little bit of moss taste still remain.

Steep number three brings a diminished smell, which I found a bit strange. It was as though the smell had all but disappeared. The taste too has been muted a bit, yet still the same as the previous steeping. Some would call this muted-ness “smoothed”, but I disagree. It is definitely lacking for flavour now.

I put the leaves through another steeping, this time leaving it for a few minutes, to see if this would improve or affect the flavour. The result was not much different. This was a decent pu’erh, but quite green, and had a flavour to match that fact. I give it an 80/100 on my enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the 2009 Nan Nuo Shan – Ban Po Zhai directly from the Grand Tea website.

The Grand Tea company is a tea company that I am growing some respect for. I’m even asking to review their tea, so that is a good sign that they have something of higher standard to offer. Generally, pu-erh tea that comes from the Xishuangbanna mountains of Yiwu in Yunnan, China is considered to be of high quality. The 2009 Yang Pin Yiwu Pu-erh tea is made in the form of a tea cake. It is considered to be “sheng”, a raw or uncooked tea, naturally fermented and is aged a little bit more than 1 year. Aging removes much of the bitterness. However, with such a young cake tea, we can expect some bitterness. Grand Tea describes this tea as medium hard pressed, with a fresh and flowery aroma.

The sample was 11.5 grams and contained not only leaves flaked off from part of the cake, but there were also a few pieces showing the layers of the cake. This gave me a good feel and a visual reference for the quality of the cake. The smell of the sample was delightfully fragrant and floral for a pu-erh, with a high note of leather and other complexities.

I wanted to use my Gaiwan rather than a Xishing teapot as I don`t have one strictly for pu-erh yet. I poured off the initial two steeps as that is required for pu-erh tea to both wash and rehydrate the tea. I used half of the sample or 5.5 gram in 100 ml water for 15 seconds on the first drinkable steep and 10 seconds on the 2nd steep but a little less water as I wanted it stronger. My notes from a pu-erh specialist say to use 7 grams in 100 ml water and I tend to agree. I noted the golden brown liquor and that there was a slight earth smell. I examined the wet leaves and compared them to another blend, noting the size of the leaf in comparison was smaller and chopped. I made about 6 steepings and sampled each one to check on strength of flavour. It did not give up its flavours too soon so this type of tea is perfect for sharing among others with confidence.

As for tasting notes, this tea isn’t totally young but isn’t the damp foresty pu-erh you get with aged tea either. It has the mild sourness of a younger pu-erh, but is also transitional to a more mellow naturally aged tea. It has a unique floral note that sits on the tongue after the bitterness dissipates. There is also a fullness in the mouth that gives this tea another dimension of enjoyment. It`s rather interesting to think the manufacturer has made the decision to sell at this point because you can either drink this tea now, or tuck it away for another few years, perhaps sampling it at intervals to see what characteristics are developing further. However, it remains to be seen if a few more years would actually develop this tea. I think the delicate floral flavours may be compromised by time. I like the packaging as well. If you are going to have a cake around for a few years, you’d want it to look a bit artistic with some elegant calligraphy, rather than with cold industrial printing. As this cake is not a tightly compressed as other traditional tea cakes, you may want to turn to a more highly compressed cake for long-term storage purposes.

The price of this tea is 400 gram cake for $16. USD and is very inexpensive, making about 60 servings from a 7-gram, remembering you will get multiple steepings. I recently paid more than that for 50 grams of pu-erh. Go ahead and get a stack of 5 cakes for $96. You’ll enjoy this for while or give the cakes as gifts to those who appreciate sheng pu-erh. Drink this tea alone to enjoy its qualities and remember to smell the warm empty cup for the floral aromas.

You can purchase the 2009 Yang Pin Yiwu Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.

For the preparation and consumption of this tea, I used a small, 6 oz. gaiwan and boiled water.

What struck me concerning the leaves of this particular pu’erh was that some are whole, while others are chopped, ripped, and torn. This typically is not a good sign, as ripped and chopped leaves tend to “steep-out” faster. The smell of the dried leaf is vegetal and green…a leafy smell, not grassy. A bit loamy.

The first thirty second steep produced a medium brown liquor, with a soft smell. The earthy flavour bursts in the mouth, but it brings with it some distinctly rough edges. The aftertaste of this first steep is strong, but the but it has a weak forward taste.

The second thirty second steep brings with it an earthier smell that is also smooth and deep. The tea bites a bit on the aftertaste leaves a hard flavour under the tongue. The flavour of the tea is still full, but not strong. One feels that this steeping is relatively light.

On the third steeping of the same time as the others, the smell is “dirtier” now. The colour is a golden brown, and that bite has almost completely gone away. The flavour is smooth, but a bit weaker than before. This tea certainly lacks forward flavours and much “personality.”

I go on to steep it three more times. The fourth is much thinner and lighter; the fifth is no different; and the sixth, which I left sit for multiple minutes, barely changed anything.

I would give this tea an 88/100 on my personal enjoyment scale. The aftertaste really was quite pleasant. A tea such as this goes to show that age is not everything in a pu’erh.

You can purchase the Year 2000 7542 Pu-erh – Dry Stored directly from the Grand Tea website.