Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Steeps’

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.

Jade Sword also known as Mao Jian is a favoured tea among many for its light refreshing vegetal flavour and pale liquor. Canton Tea has again provided an exceptional sample. In digging around on the internet, I found a comment in an article by Jane Pettigrew about the difficulties in sourcing tea in 2010 due to climate conditions. This Jade Sword tea sample is from another region that i was receiving more rainfall: ” … Edgar Thoemmes, the founding partner of Canton explained that “we have had to be agile this year!” and instead of sourcing Canton Teas Jade Sword Mao Jian from Zhejiang this year, their supply has come from Guangxi province”. The Canton Tea web site says this tea is sourced from Da Ming Shan which is located in Zhejiang.

Could you find a prettier tea? The long thin fronds are so tender and graceful and the colours are muted sage and silver tips. This tea is so pleasing to the eye and so celestial looking. If you have guests, put this tea out for a visual inspection, to smell and for admiration. The scent of the dry leaf is heavenly – sweet with grassy freshness. I used a Gaiwan for this tea using 2.5 grams tea in 150 ml water at 90 degrees C. for 2 minutes.

The scent of the wet leaves is light and fresh, with a note of asparagus. The wet olive-green coloured leaves were opened only lightly, leaving room for additional steeps. I used a shorter 30 second timing on the second but had a weaker cup rather than one producing more flavour with a more open leaf. I would not want to be dissapointed on a 3rd steep so I stopped. Examining the wet leaves, I could see the long bud and even some chopped leaf.

The colour of the liquor was very pale yellow almost clear! This Jade Sword is a smooth drink, but not as full in the mouth or as astringent as other Mao Jian’s I’ve tried. There was an exceptional aftertaste though. Sometimes, one has to wait for the best experience at the end rather than at the beginning. The umani lasts and lasts. There is an astringency and minty-coolness across the tongue. And the natural sweetness stays in the mouth.

I would not serve this tea with anything other than a light almond cookie or cucumber or watercress sandwich least it mask the subtleties of this tea. This is an all-day any-time drinker. Frankly, I would love this in the spring or early summer. I would sure like to know what the Zhejiang-sourced Jade Sword is like in comparison.

You can purchase the Jade Sword Green Tea | Mao Jian directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

This is the first of three samples I received that I am trying from Tea Forte.

I love Tea Forte’s packaging for their bagged teas. They are in a nylon/mesh bag, with a bendable leaf that sprouts out of the top of the bag (which allows you to hook it over your cup while steeping).

The leaves look to be a good size within the teabag, and they have room to unfurl once the water hits them. I steeped this cup in 170F water for two and a half minutes. The wet leaves have a hint of sweetness to them, but I’m not getting much else in the aroma.

Green Tango steeps up a bright marigold with a greenish tinge. Getting the slightest sweetness to the taste with a bit of hay on the aftertaste. This is a very subtle tea. The cup finished quickly, but nothing memorable in drinking this.

Tea Forte describes this as having a “hint of the tropics with every satisfying sip” and states that it is a lightly steamed green tea with fragrant mangoes. I do feel a little tropical after drinking this cup, the sweetness and bright liquor make it feel very tropical.

I’m not sure if I’d purchase this tea, but I certainly wouldn’t refuse a cup from a friend.

You can purchase Tea Forte Green Tango directly from their website.

Spider webs conjure up ethereal visions of delicate pale films of almost nothing. Wisps of white that disappear in the sunlight. Shanti’s Spiderweb oolong initially seems strangely misnamed. The leaves are short, black and twisted, but very tangible and more like spiders than their webs. My sample didn’t have much aroma dry, but once steeped, it almost smelled more like grapes than oolong. Or ice wine. Very sweet. Again, not a quality widely associated with spider webs.

Once brewed up, the liquor is a light tan. The tea doesn’t have much of the typical oolong flavor of other teas, but it’s got a pleasant lightly tannic flavor, and a lovely sweetness on the finish that reminds me again of grapes, or on subsequent steeps of sweet lemons. There’s also a malty overtone to the brew. It’s got a thin, tannic mouth-feel, and here’s where the spider web name is applicable. The tea’s flavor dissipates quickly, leaving just the hint of sweetness, and the knowledge that you’ve just had some nice tea.

You can purchase the Spiderweb Oolong directly from the Shanti 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.