The Essence of Tea
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Many of you have seen – on occasion – me posting “For the rest of the day I will be drinking” posts…well…today is one of those days!
For the rest of today…I will be drinking an assortment of Green Teas.
Sometimes the body just needs certain things and my body is saying drink more green tea today! So that is what I am going to do :)
I have also been considering a detox – just trying to figure out which one is right for me, I suppose.
So…here is the first of my green teas for today. It’s so cold I can’t seem to keep my tea warm today. Oh well. Anyhow…This is very velvety and a clean green tea. It’s a little sweet but also a little vegetal and a little floral. YUMMY. I have had this one before and added a short tasting note regarding my first experience if you want to check that out as well :)
In the words of Jason Hawes from Ghost Hunters…On to the next :)
Upon opening this bag of pu-erh it smelled gently sweet AND sour. As for the 1st infusion I found it to be mellower that I anticipated which was a nice surprise. The post-infused color was that of a white tea, almost. The texture was slightly buttery on the tongue and was a sweet-wood type taste. The after taste was also pleasant. I did notice the cooler it got at room temp the sweet it got. I will be doing multiple infusions for this one to compare but first impressions are good ones :)
Just when you think you can pin-point a pu-erh! (Say THAT 10 times fast!)
This is nice! It’s a bit mild and a little sweeter than most pu-erhs I have tried. Following those tastes it morphs into a very mild pu-erh earthy type taste…still nice tho! The flavor levels are even thru-out from the start of the sip well on to the after taste.
There is a hint of something else too…the only thing I can think of comparing it to is sweet basil or Tulsi/Holy Leaf…just a HINT of that in there…neat touch!
Generally, I’m not the biggest fan of bud-heavy, super-tippy tea, preferring the complexity, roundedness, and vigor of large-leaf pu’er. The Mannuo is incredible bud-heavy and I love it. For me, this tea combines the fleeting, ephemeral lightness of say the ’11 Nannuo with the intense, alkaline power of the ’11 Bulang in a harmony that makes it both eminently drinkable and completely intriguing. And unlike my experience with the other ’11 EoTs, the qi on the Mannuo is upfront, quick, and deep in a way that’s pleasing, enveloping and enjoyable. I believe this tea lives up to both the cost and the early-sell-out hype that it garnered. And, I’m not just trying to suck up in hopes of snagging another cake.
This tea is the darkest chocolate I’ve ever had. It’s also the most brutally potent tea I’ve ever had. The infusion timing for 5g in 85mL employed to prevent over-brewing was as follows: 3s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, 12s! I’ve never had a tea like this, although bulang bitterness is incredibly distinct, as it immediately reminds me of the nip of bitterness left in the 1997 Heng Li Chang Bulang. For me, the taste and texture experience on the front end of this tea is most akin to the finish on a 100% cacao super-dry, extra-dark alkaline heavy chocolate bar. Alkaline is really the absolute best word to describe this tea.
I sampled this one as part of a tasting on two different tea forums. I am drinking some of it again for the first time in many months. It was the strongest of the EoT three sampled in those tastings, and now, after just sitting in a sealed pouch in an airconditioned cupboard for a long time, it is sweet, spicy, anise, mellow, delicious. I’m drinking a lot of short infusions, water is variable temp (trying not to heat up the office too much by keeping water at boiling in the kettle), and it’s just delicious, and a lovely counterpoint to all of the green and green oolongs I’ve been drinking lately.
Preparation
I don’t have any particular flavor or texture descriptors in mind to throw around. I found the tea fresh, bright, incredibly pure (one of my favorite aspects of EoT’s pressings) and light. I thought the qi from this 2011 Nannuo was less immediate and capturing than any of the 2010 tea’s I sampled.
It was good, but I agree with Hobbes, I don’t believe it’s US$72 good. I preferred the Mansai and that tea is ten bucks cheaper. Taking both 2011 teas into mind, I do think it’s fair to say that the quality of these productions has increased. I preferred them both to the three 2010 examples I sampled. At this point, my interest in trying the single cake of the sold-out 2011 Mannuo I managed to acquire could not be much higher.
Compared with my two sets of notes from the 2010 Mansai, this tea has gained some thickness and depth, coming across less like a fleeting, young green and more like the rich, funky pu’er that it should be. One preparing for the aging process. I like it. Nada excuses a slightly more fractured leaf set due to a long journey through a remote region. This is slightly noticeable in the dry and steeped leaves, as well as in the very first steep, which shows just enough translucency to be detected. However, this in no way detracts from the tea, a quite tippy pu’er, with lots of buds and budsets visible in the exhausted leaves, which makes for a fresh and enlightening session.
This is my first infusion of this tea. It smells like forest loam, earthy, a deep rich compost of decay. I made the first infusions timidly, not a lot of leaf (I only have a few grams) and short, 20 seconds apiece, and they were…..light, thin, clean flavors of compost, but not so interesting. I decided to push to see what I could get and did 3+ minutes with a smaller volume of water at 212°F/100°C, just enough to cover the leaves, and got some sharpness that was a little unpleasant, more intense earthy flavors, but other than the added sharpness, still very similar.
A little while later, the next pair of infusions were done with very hot water, not so long, and the flavor is still very like damp forest earth, but a nicer balance than the first three. I am not getting the fruitiness I like in my favorite young she puerhs or the long sweetness of my favorite young shengs. Quite interesting.
Unfortunately, this was another session where I stopped keeping track as my other activities took over, so I can’t say when the leaves ran out of gas. I am sure I went at least a dozen infusions, but can’t say more than that.
Preparation
I missed making a note first time around for this tea. I broke off a small quantity of this one to enjoy now, although I intend to let most of it age a while.
Tonight, just 1.8 grams of tea in a very small gaiwan, which holds 50-60mL, and tap water at 205 degrees.
The dry leaf is quite dark, with some paler leaves twisted in with the rest. The scent is light, herbaceous, soil-like.
First a flash rinse, wait a minute or two, then a first flash infusion. Strongly herbaceous, some bitterness waiting in the wings, hint of sweet but only a hint. Leather, fresh-cut wood, umami noticeable after cooling, sipping more slowly.
2nd infusion was similar. 3rd infusion, still flash infusions, more sweetness starting to come to the fore, although the leather/earthy/umami is still dominant. 4th infusion, waited 5 seconds before starting to pour: sweet, anise/herb notes are stronger again. The leather/umami is still there but lightening, less overwhelming but still stronger than anything else. 5th, 10 seconds before pour: more sweet. 6th, similar, the long sweet finish starting to really take over. Yes, there is some bitter in there too, but my taste buds are doing a happy dance now. Nice nice nice. One more and I’ll be done for the evening [nope, make that 3, we’re up to 9 before retiring for the evening]. This is definitely one to continue tomorrow—want to see how far it can go.
10 and 11 down before I had this note open to edit: sweet, delicious, holding up well to some strong onion flavor in what I was eating before starting back with the tea. 12 was too short, about 5 seconds, just sweet water. 13, was barely patient enough to go 20 seconds (I am thirsty)—more flavor of herbs to back up the sweet—14, 15, 16, similar, beautifully balanced between sweet and herbaceous and sweet forest duff, tastebuds doing happy dance again. Then a horrible moment—I looked over for infusion 17 and the gaiwan was EMPTY. Filled, infused again, world righted itself on its axis. Whew.
18, 19, 20 still delicious, but starting to lighten up. Need to lengthen the infusions again. 21 to 2 minutes….still needs more. #22 will be 3 minutes, and was a little better. Going to push #23 for 5 minutes…..and it is again very nice. 10 minutes on #24, and it is nice, but back to nearly sweet water. Time to add water and go do some chores for an hour or two, maybe. #25 lost something to cooling down; #26 suggests the leaves are finally done.
Overall, an excellent experience, and this is while it is still only an infant tea.
