Farmerleaf

A tea from my blind Farmerleaf sheng shopping spree in the spring.

I was steeping 5 grams in my 125 ml gaiwan with steeps starting 10 seconds and adding 5 seconds increments. Quick rinse.

Oveall impressions are good, there is no astringency, mild sweetness as Marshall Weber notices. I am not that sure about apricots, but definitely there are some stonefruits in flavour. Not overly complex, but great daily drinker for sure. For that price, worth it. Surprisingly long mouthfeel.

Don’t rush. There is a pleasure in enjoying the bowl of dry fruits these leaves emit before steeping. Embrace this. Natural perfumes are born after the rinse, inviting you to sit closer to the lady. There must be something going on there in Laos. Medium mouth, an astringent bouquet. Hide away some for the Spring mornings to come.

I have bought a few teas from Farmerleaf, focusing mostly on the puerhs. But two bags of black teas jumped to my cart too; and I have decided to try again a Jingmai Sun-dried black after 5 years. I have no idea what Shengtai mean, so feel free to educate me.

Anyway… this tea seems to be definitely more robust and stronger black tea than the 5 years old counterpart. Reading that notes now, and this is definitely “darker” tea. In fact, there are woody notes (oak and cherry), dark honey, autumn leaves and spices. Malt isn’t missing and there is long and a little tingling aftertaste, but I wouldn’t consider it bitter or astringent. Strong in caffeine and warming up body and I am feeling cozy after drinking a mug of this.
For the price 12$ / 100 gr; great deal. But sold out now.

Very nice and easy drinking tea. Not terribly complex, but at this price, I wasn’t expecting that.

Very mild bitterness on steep 2 only. No astringency. Mild sweetness. Lasts 12 infusions.

Price is $0.12/g.

Location: Fa Tang Village, Lincang

Flavors: Apricot, fruity, sweet, bitter.

SUPER approachable and easygoing puerh. This would be a great introduction sheng for teaheads wanting to try some puerh. Very clean flavor profile with some distinct notes, which can be difficult for puerh sometimes.

Minimal to no bitterness. No astringency. Mild sweetness. Mouthfeel is fairly full and oily. Lasts 10+ infusions. Awesome value at $0.24/g for a cake.

Location: Pa Pai Village, Cang Yuan, Lincang

Dry leaf: Apricot
Wet leaf: Apricot, hay
Flavors: Apricot, fruity, sweet, bitter, cream, oily

Very nice and very expensive (> $1/g) tea from FL. Super subdued for the first 2-3 infusions, then becomes very sweet. Infusions 2 and 3 have some mild bitterness, but it dissipates. Very fruity and overall a delicious tea :).

Super clean and the leaves are HUGE and all intact. Definitely another winner from FL.

Harvest: Spring, 2024
Location: Ba Ka Noy, Menghai

Dry leaf: Apricot, fruity
Wet leaf: Same
Flavors: Apricot, fruity, grapes, sweet, bitter

From a new FL order. This is much better than I remember the Miyun being in 2022. Maybe this year is a better crop? He did write on his website that he was able to get some fairly high quality shengtai for this one.

Anyways, it is very well balanced and a great value at $0.17/g. A bit of sweetness, some mild bitterness and astringency in steeps 2-5, and an incredibly fruity smell to the dry leaves! I really enjoy this one, though it’s not the best puerh I’ve had or anything. Lasts 13-14 steeps. Also got to drink it in my new square glass teacup from FL, which is beautiful :).

Probably will have to buy a cake :).

Harvest: Spring 2024
Location: Liu Dui Garden (FL-owned) + Da Ping Zhang-adjacent garden, Jingmai Mtn

Dry leaf: Apricot, peach
Wet leaf: Grape, sweet
Flavor: Grape, sweet, bitter, astringent, fruity

After another long gongfu break, I was able to do eastern method once again. Happy to do such, and happy to try some new teas in my stash.

I have placed an order at Farmerleaf to support William and his, relatively, small business and because I had a good experience with them in the bast.

The tea, I chose, was just a random choice though. I brought pouch in the box, reading what is it (I didn’t wanted to drink black teas I bought there); and just prepared my gaiwan. 5 grams / 125 ml, 90°C water, fast rinse with very small amount of water, rather just soaking the leaves. Steeps 7/10/15/20/25 seconds, and a few uncounted ones.

Partially luckily, partially not so great, is that Farmerleaf describes their teas rather shortly. This one saying: “Experience the alpine taste…” is not saying much to me, until I have tried it.

The tea was rather loose than compressed, which I wonder if it is because I ordered just sample qty (20 g) instead of cake; or because it’s so fresh and it was so easy to pry when preparing the sample.

Anyway, measured 5 grams as I wrote before, added some water, smelled it… and it was indeed like a meadow in full bloom with some sheng astringent notes, however these weren’t much present and a little bit herbaceous.

I won’t describe steep after steep, as I am writing this note as a post-session note, but honestly it has highly surprised me. It was smooth and indeed again a bit herbal, little astringency but never too high, light and refreshing; with longer steeps you get some fruity (apricot) flavours, all followed with long and round mouthfeel; and again stone fruit notes, this time as an aftertaste, keeping the experience memorable.

It is definitely an easy drinker and probably as well a daily drinker, however in this way I would finish my sample in 4 days. My ratio was just right, so definitely keeping this in mind when preparing it next time.

This is my fourth year of trying a Black tea from Farmerleaf. Most of these fall under the medium oxidation and some are more oolong like than others. This tea is probably closer to 90% oxidized. Some of the leaves are a little bit un-oxidized while most are fully.

This tea is a little bit sweet, sour, metallic, and earthy. It has a good complexity to it, but less sweetness than the other black teas Farmerleaf has sold. This a great tea, but I recommend trying the Yingpan Shan tea over it. I compared the this tea with the 2023 Yingpan and I found the Yingpan much more rich and floral than this.

It feels rare to find a tea that has been smoked like this. There are plenty of western facing vendors with charcoal roasted teas from HK and pine smoked teas from wuyi, but this tea has a very different flavor profile. The smoke is more mellow and leaves a nice peppery note in the aftertaste. The tea has a tiny bit of sweetness and the oxidation has imparted some minerality to the taste. As with all of the Farmerleaf teas, the mouthfeel is great and the tannin dries out your tongue after each sip. Overall, I really enjoy this tea and I hope Farmerleaf tries this half-smoked process next year.

Deep, dry, roasted seaweed, woody, earthy, bitter and astringent. Hints of lingering sweetness and basil. This tea can quickly become overly bitter. It is really nice and punchy when you steep it a little under boiling and for shorter times. If you overdo it, you will taste nothing but bitter and astringent tea. While I enjoyed this tea quite a bit, I’m not recommending it as there are so many other cakes from Farmerleaf this year that I recommend more and I do not think this is an amazing cake for someone who is new to Puerh.

Received as a free sample

Nice balance while keeping the punch. Little bit of sweetness and great hui gan. At the start of each year, I usually buy a cake or two from Farmerleaf. I enjoy how complex their sheng is and it always packs a punch. This year, they threw in a sample of this tea with my order and it was the star of the show. You get plenty of the green, young sheng flavor mixed in with some sourness and astringency like you’d have with fresh basil and mint. Those flavors linger on into that lasting sweetness that rounds out the experience. This is exactly what I want from a sheng.

Very interesting, characterful 2023 sheng puer that is a real bargain. It is refreshing and lightly-fruity, yet also full-bodied and deeply sweet.

This cheap sheng puer is simple, but nice and substantial. It does not really have much of the flowery and fruity aspects of most other young teas, and in a way it kinda feels semi-aged. It is thick, sweet, herbaceous and kind of malty and has a long, substantial aftertaste. I guess the emphasis on sweetness and substance instead of flowery perfumes and bitterness does make it similar to Yiwu teas indeed. I bought a cake of this to have a cheap young sheng, and it performs great for that.

So awesome of William to include free 25g samples of high-end teas like this :) .

This is great tea. It is elegant, sweet, deep, soft and active in the mouth. It provides endless brewing and has a great, very present aftertaste.

A charming, well-priced raw pu-erh with a unique character.
The taste profile is green and citrusy, with notes of green beans, herbs and lemon. Some hints of honeyed floral. Low to medium bitterness and astringency and some nice mineralic texture. The tea leaves behind a pleasant citrusy aroma in the throat, though without returning sweetness or strong cooling effects. Average endurance and a somewhat relaxing effect.

Very strong, flowery and fresh. Drinking this in sept. 2023 and I guess that means it also feels a little rough around edges; it is very perfumy, sweet and active but also kinda airy and bright, not very deep in terms of sweetness in the aftertaste.

[edit:] after a week of resting, it actually changed a lot. It now has a lot of body and really active, complex mouthfeel as well. I think this is an awesome tea.

This is a high quality tea and was either not cheap, or was a great value if so. Impossible to know as it is sold out on their website. Glad I got a free sample anyways :).

This is a blend of leaves from six large trees from the mountain Ba Da Ye just north of Little Jinggu. The man who sourced and processed the tea is Luo Kai Yin.

Unlike their 2022 Gulan from yesterday, this one had arms wide open from the start. William’s description on the website is spot on. Only a twinkle of bitterness with no astringency. Mouthfeel is medium-thick. Mild sweetness. Hou yun is long and vaporous like a cloud in your throat. Flavor is mild, but incredibly pleasant, soothing, and most noticeable in the aftertaste. Longevity is 16+ infusions.

Wish they still had cakes left…

Dry Leaf: Vegetal.
Wet Leaf: Dried apricots.
Flavors: Bitter, sweet, cream, white grapes.

Free sample from last FL order. Don’t love this one, honestly. Given the price, I expected more. Smell of the wet leaves is bursting with fruits, but the liquor stays closed until infusion 5.

Mouthfeel is okay, but not very interesting. Aftertaste is mild and vague. Mild bitterness starting at infusion 5. Medium-low astringency starts at infusion 7. Cha qi is quite heady; very loopy by infusion 8. I understand that many puerh drinkers are going for this and care less about flavor. Thus, I’m giving it a higher rating than I would otherwise. Lasts 12+ infusions.

Origin: Blend from 5 gardens: Ai Ban, Nuo Gu Wan, Weng Bo, He Huan, and Guang Jing. All gardens are on the Da Ping Zhang Plateau, elevation 1500-1600 m.

Dry Leaf: Vegetal.
Wet Leaf: Tropical fruit, mango, apricot, star fruit.
Liquor: Vegetal, pepper, sweet, honey.

As a wino, I love a good Sauternes, Port, Pedro Ximénez, or Beerenauslese. This is the closest thing to a dessert tea I’ve had. Exceptionally sweet from the first infusion! Sad that this beauty is sold out. I only have the rest of my sample to keep me company. Not a complex tea, but one that is sweet enough to love you unconditionally.

Longevity is 8-10 infusions. No astringency or bitterness. Mouthfeel is fairly thick, with good hui gan.

These leaves come from natural tea gardens. According to William, they dry these leaves in a thicker pile than most producers. This causes the leaves to dry in 3 days instead of 1, allowing for some oxidation to occur.

Harvest: March-April, 2022.

Dry Leaf: Toast, wheat.
Wet Leaf: Honey, cotton candy.
Flavors: Sweet, sugar, honey.

This tea is a blind purchase from a new FL order of some puerh cakes. For the price ($0.07/g), this tea is quite complex and enjoyable! I wonder how the tea would have tasted fresh as well, given its now almost two-year age.

Mild bitterness and sweetness with no astringency. Longevity is 6-7 infusions. Mouthfeel and hou yun are leathery.

This tea is made by a man named Li Chao Yuan, who owns a small tea factory on this mountain.

Harvest: Autumn 2021.
Location: Yingpan Shan (20 km SE of Puer City).

Dry leaf: Dried apricot:
Wet leaf: Malt.
Flavor: Apricot, floral, bitter, sweet, leather, honey.

This was such an interesting session. I broke it into two days, with a whole (refrigerated) day in between when I went to work. I probably brewed 4-6 steeps on the first night; these were tasty but lacking much sweetness or huigan; mouthfeel was full and the character was bold in like a… craft beer kind of way? It wasn’t really bitter, but the presence was commanding and felt like it was holding something that I needed to wait for.

Fast forward 36 hours to this morning… I pulled my ceramic pot out of the fridge, warmed it from the outside, and continued on my merry way. Must have gotten 10-12 more steeps, and herrrrre came the break. The beautiful full mouthfeel held, and creamy apricot sweetness gently crept in. No bitterness, really, regardless of how hard I pushed.

There are so many shengs Iike this, that absolutely pique my curiosity and make me wonder how they’ll taste in 5-10-15 years. This one, for instance — without some big brash bitterness, does it have enough oomph to go anywhere else? Or is this — happily — its peak? I know nothing about the processing here — maybe this is boutique-style that isn’t meant for patience.

Anyway. Always learning. Thank you for the lesson, derk. <3

Why did I buy this sample? My wallet is trembling. This stuff is perfectly balanced, complex, and refined. It’s not just the high price (although I’m certainly not immune to that bias) that makes me like this tea. I’ve tried plenty of more expensive teas that I don’t like.

This is the last sample from my FL order and definitely the most impressive. This tea is from an ancient garden in the town Ba Meng, which is located directly below the highest peak in the Xishuangbanna mountain range and in all of the southern Puerh-producing regions. The tea definitely has that sophisticated air that high mountain teas tend to have.

According to the FL website and consistent with my own observations, these leaves are smaller than those in other samples. I believe this is somewhat common in mountainous areas. The closer you get in elevation to the treeline, the shorter trees get. In general, shorter trees in forests with higher, thicker canopies by necessity have larger leaves in order to collect more sunlight from the little bits that make it through the thick canopy. The inverse could contribute to smaller leaf size in these higher elevation trees…

Anyways, bitterness is trace with medium-low astringency. Longevity is 16+ infusions. Mouthfeel is generous, juicy, and full. Aftertaste is tangy-sweet and lasts many minutesssss.

Probably out of my budget to cake this at $0.60/g, but I might splurge after I finish the rest of the sample and weep tears of great loss.