WymmTea

I decided to do the full mystery box thing this evening, and just chose a packet at random. This was the one that came up. Funny, because if I had selected one to try, this is probably what I would have selected. Fate?

I can understand the reference to cane (sugar?) though I would call the dominant flavor straw. There is a pleasant sweetness riding on top of the straw, which reminds me of sugar cane. As the cup cooled, the flavors became stronger, and more woody. The nose is very light, almost non-existent, though if I strain I can detect a bit of grapefruit. The flavor isn’t powerful, but is sufficient. It feels very full in the mouth but with an acidity that I found refreshing. Good, very long finish. As the tea cooled, it seemed to become more powerful, although that may be an interaction with the finish. I would say the flavor is interesting, but not complex.

There is a powerful cha qi, which is just perfect for sitting around on a Saturday night. The combination of the cha qi and the long finish encourages me to just sit and enjoy the experience.

I am breaking this out, the third of four samples that Wymm.
I have brewed all of the samples from them in a neutral glass vessel. I think this is the best way to get a handle to the “essence” of the tea on your first tasting.
I gave a really quick rinse to this one just to wake it a bit. It has a nice green tea and musky aroma to it. The sips are warm, grassy and buttery with the honey sweetness coming through . It has a slight touch of bitter that dwells for a second goes and drifts back in as well. What has really impressed me is the sweet of this seems to dance about a while after drinking it. This has no smoke at all in it. I would say it has been processed with pride. I have had 8 good infusions so far and i will keep going as long as I can with this one. I am up to 20 second steeps and still getting some goodness.

totally gapped on doing a review for this today but i’ll likely pick it up again tomorrow in any case. I am trying really hard to get through reviewing the samples from Wymm tea that they were so generous about sending out to people. So far yesterday’s shou was my favourite but this one was quite nice. I remember most that this was slightly sweet – slightly floral but not to the point where i didn’t want to drink it. Only got through a few steepings today so more tomorrow.

Final Count: 131

This tea promises honey and it certainly delivers it! I find some sheng incredibly complex where you can list off a dozen different notes. This isn’t especially complex, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly yummy. There’s some hay/straw (are they the same thing?) hiding in there but mostly I’m just getting sweetness. There’s a bit of bitterness that comes and goes, but for the most part it’s entirely pleasant. Though I’m getting to the point where I appreciate a bit of a bite (within reason). It counteracts the sweet aspect well.

Also, I love the cute mystery wrapping. https://instagram.com/p/zvffQCRWFJ/?modal=true You get four of these in the pack and get to pick one at random. I guess it’s not incredibly convenient if you’re looking for a specific tea, but I love the surprise factor. I’m very excited to try the rest of the teas. I’ve been slacking as I got a ton of teas at the same time last week on top of the pu-erh TTB. But these are definitely at the top of the list.

As it seems our dashboard is working I can finally get this one in. This came in from Wymm as a generous sample.
I dropped it in the easy steeper and gave a short 5 second wash to start out. First brew also at 5 seconds. A nice orchid/floral aroma comes off this one from the cup. The color is a light golden honey color. I get into the cup and finally a Jingmai that is strong and sweet and no overly citrus y.
I usually don’t have a pen-chance for Jingmai tea for this reason. This is one that goes in the other direction. It has a good mouth-feel to it. Very thick across the tongue. It has a nice floral note that drifts into sweetness. This is no doubt first flush Spring tea as it has vigor to it. A nice sense of calm after drinking this and it has gone a cup or two a day for three days now. Nice tea.

mmmm this has been a great tea this morning. This is a strong flavourful tea on the first few infusions – slight woody taste to it but not overly strong. Mostly smooth and comforting for me. I’d be curious to compare this against the other grades they offer. This one was exactly what i needed this morning though. Some earthy notes to this but subtle and generally just a happy place. Not helpful i know, but i’d reorder this one in future so i’m super thankful to Wymm tea for providing the opportunity to try this one out. If the tea changes remarkably, i’ll edit my note again as i want to have a few more infusions of this one after a little break. :)

This was a very generous sample from Wymn Tea. Thank you!

I enjoyed this as my lazy saturday afternoon tea yesterday. I am just starting out with pu-erh so I am not sure how great my notes will be about the tea. This tea was very hard for me to get to open up. I did quite a few rinses before the leaves ever appeared to break apart. The flavors that I got out of the infusions ranges from borderline bitter, to tangy fruit with honey, a few infusions had a creamy feel to the mouthful, and then towards the end a few infusions showed hints of woodiness. Since I am new to pu-erh I will leave this unrated. It was an enjoyable afternoon tea, but it didn’t stand out to me as a favorite in regards to the few Sheng’s I have tried.

this was one of my teas from yesterday – a generous sample from Wymm tea that came wrapped in paper. This was a a nice sheng…full of honey and creamy notes, with only a hint of bittnerness on the back end. Unlike some sheng’s that i’ve had, it didn’t turn in to a bitter mess that i didn’t want to drink (i’m still learning!) haha later steeps had more hay notes to it but they were still smooth and slightly sweet. I may have a few more infusions of this today if i get time.

thanks so much for sharing these teas with us Wymm!

This tea was gifted by Tashi and Sgrodka to myself and other Steepsters out there. A generous offer to our community and I wish to say thanks for the chance.

This tea was sent in a very nice pouch of paper that had me scrambling to identify it on the Wymm Tea site. I found out when I opened the pouch the type of tea it was. No second picks so I will go with this one.
The sample weighed in at 6 grams so I went with my small (5oz.) steeper. The tea was washed for about 5 seconds and then I started steeping. The brew was very light on the first brew as I thought since it was a very quick steep. The aroma of a faint peach smell came off the brew. First sip a bit stronger than I would have expected for a young tea. It carries a good amount of bitterness that turns into a steamed vegetable note with a touch of saltiness to it. Second steeps bring more punch from the bitterness and the color is starting to get a bit darker as well.
It is a strong drink after the initial early steeps . I pulled some leaf out and it seems to be 2 leafs and a bud on the ones with stems I pulled out. Very strong Spring tea and and complex. I would say this would be a great tea to put away for a few years years I think it will be a shining star in your cupboard.

Having this tea this morning. I did 3 rinses on this before starting drinking. It was a tightly compressed chunk so I couldn’t break it up. I had slightly more tea to water volume than Wymm Tea’s recommendation.

The first brewing of this tea was very light and bitter. The leaves were still in a chunk and hadn’t separated. I just didn’t pick up much flavour in this cup which would have been due to the leaves still being compressed.

2nd & 3rd brewing – This is when the leaves started breaking up from the tightly compacted tea. Both of these brewings were bitter but a sweet honey flavour was coming through on Steep 3.

4th & 5th – Bitterness was almost gone. Sweet honey flavour kept getting more pronounced. Enjoyed cup 5 even more than 4. It kept getting better!

This is a rough sheng but the later steeps make it worth it. I’ll try some more steeps on this later today and see how it goes. It has a good energy. I feel alert and clear headed but not jittery.

Today is just an awful, awful day. Spock has left us (oh god the tears!!) the dress apocalypse is nigh, my computer is garbage, and I think I have to break my promise to never run ads on my blog. Truly this is a dark day, I am honestly not even sure what to do with myself, the other stuff really was making me blue, but Leonard Nimoy dying is heartbreaking, I love Star Trek, heck I am even debating wearing a Science Officer’s outfit as a wedding dress when I get around to getting married. Spock might have been the first ‘Space Elf’ that I ever fell for, he is just iconic, and his death is tragic, but, at least he did live long and prospered.

So, enough crying into my cat, it is Dark Tea week still, so it is time to venture further into the fermented heart of tea with Wymm Tea’s Menghai Shou (Cooked) Pu-erh In Third Grade 2008. This tea comes from the mountains of Menghai and sits right in the middle of tea grading (seventh grade has the biggest leaves and first is the smallest) this means it is right in the middle of sweetness and woodiness. So the aroma certainly can back that up, blending woodiness and earthiness with a touch of sweet. This is definitely one of those teas that is more earthy and robust than sweet, and the presence of loam and wet wood is strong. It reminds me more of a deciduous forest than pine forest, which usually smells sweeter to me.

And into the elephant pot it goes for a brief rinse and steep, the wet leaves are very earthy, blending loam, wet oak wood, a sharp mineral note (specifically it reminds me of limestone) and a finish of pine needles. The liquid is creamy and sweet, the aroma has a heaviness like lying on a forest floor and enjoying the aroma of loam and wood washing over you. It is a very pleasant aroma, earthy and robust but with a balanced sweetness.

The first steep is very smooth, in both moutfeel and taste. I was impressed by the level of smooth, I did one of those mouth-smacking ahhh moments and just had to lean back in my chair and enjoy for a moment. The taste notes blended earthy notes and sweetness to an almost perfection, notes of loam and wet wood with caramel and pine sap, like I said, it was very smooth.

Take two! The aroma did not change much, it has a little more loam and a little more sweetness, so basically it is the same but stronger. Like the first steep this one is crazy smooth, I feel like I should change the music I am listening to (it is Busta Rhymes, not sure he counts as smooth, though that flow is SICK) because wow, this might be one of the most smooth Puerhs I have had. The taste is still really balanced, with the previous earthy notes I get a bit of a mineral note and with the previous sweet notes I get a bit of fig. The aftertaste is almost honey sweet and it lingers for a while.

Guess what, it is time for steep three, the aroma is much sweeter this time, with notes of pine sap, loam, and honey drizzled figs, it smells yummy. The taste is lighter this time, and oddly not really sweet at all, mostly just earthy and loamy with a distinct hint of mineral at the finish. I sat with this tea for a few more steeps, it did not really change much from this one, just continued to fade. It was a delightfully smooth tea, and never got an edge to it which I really liked.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/wymm-tea-menghai-shou-cooked-pu-erh-in.html

This tea is from one of the Wymm “Mystery Boxes”. The packaging was very clever: a folding cardboard box contained a number of packets that looked like folded up paper napkins, though I think the paper is the type used to wrap beengs. The folding was rather clever, though easy to figure out. There was no marking on the outside; you had to unfold the paper to find the name of the tea on a small slip of paper inside with the tea. I suspect the idea was to create “mystery”. It was kind of fun to unwrap the teas, but it makes it a hassle to find a particular tea. i wound up writing numbers on the wrappers and including the number with the tea name in my spreadsheet. That means I have to use my computer to select a tea, but that’s not too bad. (Wynn confirmed that this special packaging only for the mystery box – normal samples would be more conventionally packaged.)

The tea itself was very unusual. In my first pot, it was closer in taste to a sheng than any other shou I have tried. It seems that this should always be the case and it bothers me that it is not. In theory, the shou teas are supposed to have just sped up the aging that the sheng would undergo, yet when I drink a 10 or 12 year old sheng, it doesn’t taste anything like a shou. I can’t see it moving in that direction either.

This is my second pot. The first pot had hints of green vegetables, black pepper, and wood. Only two steeps had the fruity/earthy flavors I associate with shou. By the 5th steep, I would have thought I was drinking an older sheng.

For this pot, I did a very brief 2 s rinse. The first steep was brown in color, like a sheng, rather than red. No sign of the earthy flavors that shou usually shows, but also no veggies. The next few steeps became more shou-like, with a strong black pepper flavor and lots of cha qi. The fourth steep was red (like a shou) but more fruity and sweet than earthy. Long, pleasant finish. 5th steep is similar: fruity and sweet, but without the woody flavors I noticed in the first pot. At this point, it reminded me of some of my favorite shou teas: smooth and fruity but not earthy or bitter. At the 6th steep (1m), the fruit is about gone, but there is a nice woody flavor remaining, like a good aged sheng. Smooth and mild, like a good sherry.

I like the variety from cup to cup, though it makes it harder to rate. Also, the two pots were somewhat different as well. Partly why I love trying different teas.

I had this yesterday afternoon. Brewed in my gaiwan. I only used half the leaves since my gaiwan in tiny . I did 3 rinses before drinking.

There was a slight bitterness in the first infusion with sweet honey & fruity notes. The bitterness would hit the tongue initially followed by the sweet honey. There was a silky creamy feel on the tongue.

I can’t remember how many infusions I had of this tea but I really enjoyed it. Definitely it’s one I would consider buying.

Another sample from the Mystery tea samples Wymm Tea so generously sent. I had this one this morning. It brewed up so dark! My little teapot had a bit less volume than their steeping instructions so I was using a bit less water to tea which made it so rich and dark. I would describe it as being very woody, earthy, mushroomy & smooth with faint cocoa notes. The cocoa notes were very faint and although I love some of the chocolate shu’s, this one didn’t have enough to make me love it. The caffeine or energy level was much more than the other shu I had (Menghai Shou Seventh Grade). There are some who would love a tea like this in the morning but I usually start my day with a green and I could only think of how I wanted my green tea so bad all the time I was drinking this.

I did 3 infusions on it and it stayed consistent and rich through out. There could have probably been plenty more infusions but 3 was a lot for me!

For those that enjoy a full bodied rich dark tea, this is the tea for you.

This is from Wymm Tea’s mystery box they were so kind to send out. I liked their simple packaging of the teas wrapped in the special pu’erh paper.

I am enjoying this tea this morning. I haven’t been a really big shu fan. It started out drinking shu but once I had sheng I wanted sheng much more than shu.

I did two 10 sec rinses on this first. I would describe this tea as very smooth. It doesn’t have the rough bitter taste in some of the earlier steeps of other shu I’ve had. It’s woody and a bit mushroomy with sweet honey notes. I found as each steep went on (I did quite a few steeps), it remains pretty consistent, but a bit less woody and sweeter in the later steeps.

Wymm lists this tea as low caffeine and boy is that ever right! I’ve had so many steeps this morning and hardly feel any caffeine at all. That’s a major plus in my books since I’m sensitive to caffeine. It has given me a good energy feeling though – very calm but alert. I’ve found that type of energy more with the sheng instead of a shu.

I’ve really enjoyed this tea and because of it’s low caffeine & mellow honey flavour it might just be one shu I will reach for a little more often than other shu’s .

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Good aroma, from the moment I put the dry leaves into the warmed gaiwan, to the last sip of the last infusion.

The first infusions were really rich and strong. A bit woody, but smooth.

It didn’t last as long as I wanted.

It’s at a good price, though, so I might get it in the future….other than I have a lot of pu right now.

Happy Monday people who are reading this on Monday, happy whatever day you are reading this on if you are reading it some other day. I am beginning to get to that point where I hate Winter again, it is aching cold and there is no snow, in fact there has been very little snow, it is the only thing I like about this time of year, so a lack of it is just depressing. I am seriously debating getting a sun lamp, the kind that helps with SAD, but I am also afraid I will burst into flames like a Minecraft Zombie, so a helmet might be required.

You know what I have not done in a long time? A theme week! Yeah, I love those, I really need to do more of them, so I going to devote this this week to the dark side of tea. Starting off with Wymm Tea’s Mangnuo “Cane Tea” Raw Pu-erh From Ancient Tea Tree 2014 Early Spring, woo, that is a mouthful! So, about this tea, the trees the leaves are plucked from are 200-300 years old specially trimmed to form cane shaped branches, leaving only the buds, so yeah a lot of trees are needed for this super uniform fancy Sheng. The aroma of the dry leaves is pretty subtle, with notes of green bamboo leaves, freshly mown grass, cut hay, and a finish of camphor. I do love those camphor notes in tea, especially in the summer where it acts as a coolant.

First steep and rinsing, not sure I have introduced my Sheng pot yet, it is an adorably tiny 90ml Shui Ping that is debatably from 90s (I say debatably because you never know with ebay) and it seasoned beautifully, I am always glad for a chance to use it. The aroma of the liquid for the first steep is pretty yummy, it blends bamboo leaves, grass, mown hay, honey, distant fresh spinach (really it is just a hint) and a finish of uncooked rice. The sun colored liquid is delicate and sweet with notes of honey, hay, and a touch of rice and camphor.

The tea starts out a little bitter and then boom immediately sweet with a surprisingly smooth mouth feel, almost silky in its texture. The flavor notes are a mix of honey and sweet rice, this transitions to hay and grass and a touch of vegetal. The finish is a blend of green and camphor, imparting a delightful cooling effect on my insides.

Once more into the tea (it just sounds better than once more into the breach, ok?) The aroma of the liquid is much more intense this time around, the previous notes are still there but much stronger, especially the fresh hay and grass notes, and they are joined by a hint of straw. The taste still has a strong notes of fresh green bamboo leaves, I love that, but I love the taste of bamboo so I am always happy to run into it. There are also notes of uncooked rice, green grass, hay, vegetal and a strong honey note. The honey note lingers long into the aftertaste, there is not as much camphor this steep.

Hello steep three! Hello aroma notes of hay, green grass, fresh bamboo, a bit of bamboo shoots, and a touch of rice and honey at the finish. This steep was similar to the first as it had a bit of a bitterness at the first but very quickly faded to sweet honey and green bamboo leaves. This moves to uncooked rice, hay, grass, uncooked spinach, and a finish of camphor.

Usually I end my reviews at three steeps (even if I continue on with the tea) but with Puerhs sometimes you really do not get a real feel for it until many steeps later. I ended up going for a total of twelve steeps (it was a long day hehe) and had a great journey of growing sweetness and utter banishment of bitterness, the camphor notes pretty much left for good at steep four. The notes of hay and bamboo stayed strong and the taste of honey really exploded towards the end. I found the mouthfeel went from smooth and silky to almost thick (at one point it reminded me a bit of Gyokuro’s thickness) and creamy. This Sheng goes the distance and I can see why it is Wymm Tea’s signature tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/wymm-tea-mangnuo-cane-tea-raw-pu-erh.html

Another Tea from the Mystery box/sampler.

I’m not normally a big fan of shou. I’d say there are only about 5 of the 30 shous I’ve tasted that I liked well enough to want to add to my collection. This one may be the 6th.

It started out with a rich complex aroma of wood, berries, and spice. The taste is smooth and restrained, with complex flavors of wood and spice. Transitions smoothly to an excellent finish. Lots of cha qi. 2nd steep: Richer, slightly more earthy nose. A hint of bitterness added to the previous flavors. 3rd (20s): Love the nose! Smooth, slightly fruity taste. Subsequent steeps lost the fruit but were pleasant and well-balanced, with no negative aspects.

I usually feel that shou has too much of a decayed flavor or else is too bitter. This had neither, but rather hints of fruit and spice that added a pleasant complexity. The dominant aspect may have been the cha qi. I had to space out my steeps in order to clear my head. Otherwise, I probably would have wound up asleep.

2 10 second rinses, then 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 s steeps at 210 degrees.

This is one of the samples I got from the lovely people at Wymm tea. I picked a random package to drink while dreading going out in the snow. This is the parcel that I snatched up. It smells like a steamy forest floor. Ooh, I am going to like this shou.

The Coca-Cola colored liquor is earthy, and slightly spicy sweet. Like cinnamon sugar. Although I have had far more interesting shou, I filled my craving for shou quite thoroughly. Thanks Tashi at Wymm! I can’t wait to see what these other grades bring to the table!

(Note refers to 2014 Spring) This tea has a very tight compression. Rather than shred it entirely, I left 5 small chunks in pot. After the first steep and a 5 minute wait, I had to break them up with a knife, and found they were still dry on the inside. The first two steeps reminded me of a green tea, but much deeper: grassy with a hint of green beans. A woody flavor that was barely there in the first steep grew stronger until by the third steep it dominated the taste. The overall power of the tea also grew.

The tea was a little rough, probably due to its youth. There was a tart, tannic edge that was just short of bitter. Not unpleasantly so, but it made the tea feel like it needed more time to settle out. The one constant was a very strong cha qi. It was so relaxing that I had to take a couple of breaks so I didn’t nod off during the session.

I’m not going to give a numerical rating, since I believe this tea should be judged on how it will taste in 5-10 years rather than how it drinks now. I enjoyed it, but would hope that it would become a bit more rounded and unified with more age.

I received a free “mystery box” of samples and also purchased a sampler. I’m not sure which teas were purchased and which were free samples, but want to thank Wynn tea for the opportunity to try their teas.