2017 Yunnan Sourcing "Da Qing Gu Shu" Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

In order of strength: Hay, Pear, Green Apple, Honeysuckle

Da Qing is subtle in a master act in its balance of astringency, bitterness, fruit, florals, and spice. This tea gives way to existence of having a forest edge the prairie you are standing with gentle breezes that carry the green fruit and honeysuckle of the forest. Just the right amount of pepper on the end; or perhaps its actually your wife calling you in for supper and abruptly ending your serenity?

Just the right amount.

Rinse: Wet leaf smells sweet-sour green fruits and floral perfume, arboreal trees – something grander than the typical grassy meadow.

1st infusion (10s, 95˚C): tastes like mineral water, some astringency already, a bit salty briny, hint of bitterness and black pepper spiciness. Medium-bodied and quite creamy / silky mouthfeel. Flavour can’t stand up to my breakfast blueberry muffin: not a good pairing with sweet food.

2nd infusion (15s, 95˚C): This infusion tastes like mineral water + spicy and almost savoury, surprisingly pairs well with the blueberry muffin!

3rd (20s, 96˚C): Wet leaf smells of fresh tangy fruit like yellow plums. Liquor is more of the same slightly bitter mineral spring water – pleasant and drinkable but I’m not getting anything exciting. Tastes refreshingly sour when I drink it to wash down the baked goods. On its own it’s wonderfully solid and well-balanced, spiciness is really coming out now.

4th (28s, 97˚C): WL same green grapeskins scent. Pleasantly astringent (never thought I’d say this abt a tea!), spicy and woody. Ooh I even got a mouthful of fruitiness on my last gulp! It’s like sour, watery wild honey and astringent all at the same time. Goes so well with the muffin.

5th (40s, 99˚C): Body is thin.

6th (120s+, 100˚C): Body is thin. Bitter, astringent, done.

Rating: 86

After having quite a lot of sessions with the 2016 Autumn Da Qing Gu Shu (which I have a cake of), I decided to sample the spring version from the following year. As such, I will inevitably be comparing the two. Overall, I think I prefer the autumn version by a little bit, but both are quite good.

The dry leaf smell here is floral and creamy, similar to the autumn harvest but unsurprisingly weaker. From the wet leaves, I get an aroma of forest floor, tobacco, and bog. It is also slightly nutty and grassy at times.

I found the taste of this tea to be very well integrated in the sense that nothing really sticks out, but at the same time it is not flat. It is vegetal and more bitter than the autumn one. There are flavours of rapini, hops, pasta, bread crust, spinach, and spices, among others. The aftertaste is then sweet in the mouth and sour in the throat, just like the autumn version. I noticed a thyme flower note, as well as a black pepper spiciness that emerges after a while.

The mouthfeel is less smooth then in the autumn tea I think. It is also more watery, but still somewhat oily in mid infusions. It gets more drying and throat-constrictive in the second half of the session. The cha qi subtle and enveloping, nothing very strong, but quite nice. I also found the tea to be quite heavy on the stomach unfortunately.

Gorgeous leaves

I was very unhappy with this tea and originally just gave it a score of 38. Sorry, I don’t recall the reasons why. I have just upped my score to 55 as it is not bad used as a cold water infusion.

‘The tea is perfectly balanced and is very stable through many infusions. Bitterness, astringency, sweet, spicy and floral all at once with long lasting taste and feeling in the mouth, throat and body long after drinking it.’

Couldnt have put it any better. Oh, it’s bitterness is very elegant, and the fruit is quite a good one too. everything is melded together in a really nice way.