Meng Hun Unfermented Puerh

I liked the strong bold flavour of this one. After the 15s rinse, so far I’ve had several drinkable steeps at 20s and 30s. I can taste vegetal, astringency and wet hay. Unfortunately I don’t taste the apple peel or corn tastes, or milkiness that others noted.

I’m trying this across many steeps, to get the full experience. My friend, who gave me a sample of this, told me to use a smaller amount than usual, which I am half listening to and using two teaspoons (albeit one of them was heaping) where I’d usually use a slightly heaping tablespoon.

First steep, I let the water sit for a couple minutes before adding, and steeped for three minutes. The tea brewed to a beautiful amber colour. It’s a little vegetal, and sweet. A little dry. Relaxing, and from what I remember, this tea will continue to make me feel studious and meditative throughout the day, if not in the same way as, say, pumpkin chai would. More adult and refined, more zen.
Second steep was more vegetal, more astringent. I may have used too-hot water, though. Still not bad, just not as good as I’d hope.
Hoping that third, and maybe fourth and fifth steep tomorrow are nice as well.

I’m liking how every Jalam Tea cake I get, though all raw/sheng, are all very different.

This pu’er starts off very delicious – light at first, developing a stronger flavor at end of sip. Hay, juicy vegetable stalks and buttery corn notes. There is also a milky texture that is really nice. However, with each infusion Meng Hun gets more crisp and astringent.

I also found the recommended water temp of boiling water made the tea dry by the 3rd infusion, and really dry in later infusions. I preferred 185F, but the flavor wasn’t as strong, but no dryness until the 7th infusion.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/meng-hun-unfermented-puer-jalam-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Pu’er cake unwrapping woes.

As soon as IndigoBloom mentioned the Jalam tea club, I knew I was in, LOL. I started reading the website, ordered samples of some of the previous teas, joined the club, & downloaded Jeff’s book, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, which I started reading last night.
Yes, I know, I probably have a problem that requires a 12 step group, LOL, but having been a member of several 12 step groups of the last 30 years, I promise, I’ll be ok.
(or maybe I’m in denial?)
My samples all arrived a few days ago, & I’m very excited to start sampling them (along with samples I’m working on from Teavivre, Life in Teacup, Tribute Tea, & Yunnan Sourcing…oh, & all the tea trades!! It might take awhile, but I WILL enjoy every single one!)

So this is my first sample from Jalam!
The dry tea, in shades of grey, beige, & wheat, with a green undertone, has the light aroma of a clean horse stall.
Leaf warmed in a preheated yixing = a clean horse stall on a humid day, hint of apple.
4G + 4oz Yixing (15 sec rinse) X 20 seconds = mild clean straw
30 sec = the energy is immediate & restorative
40 sec = A slightly bitter & tangy cup, with a hint of apple peel
50 sec = bitterness subsiding, energy spreading, sweet applesauce on the back of my tongue
60 sec/70 sec = If I still have the headache I woke with, I no longer care
80 sec = oops…I really oversteeped this one! It was really over 2 mins…but guess what? It’s still very drinkable. A little on the astringent side, with a potent green taste, but not bad!
1min 30 sec = I’m sure I lost somethings in the long steep, but this is a pleasant mild cup.
1min 40 sec = lightly sweet, still reminding me of apples
1 min 50 sec = & the sweetness grows, just a little, still apple, plus a hint of sweet grass
2 min = Sweet water
3 min or so…forgot to set timer…Taichi anyone?

I should preface by saying that I am addicted to unfermented sheng puerh, so my palate is not only accustomed to the bold astringency and stimulative qualities of a fresh sheng, but it actually craves it… Not everyone is into shengs (but they should be!), but for fresh puerh loves, this Meng Hun has all of the raw characteristics of a tea that you will want to age, but you won’t be able to because it’s ‘that’ good right now…

I was taken back at the overall balance of flavor and bold aromas of this leaf… I received this with my monthly does of 100g cakes from Jalam teas. Jeff does a great job sourcing teas that otherwise might have never made it into our cups, so much credit to him for finding this one and opening my eyes (very wide).

It has a lot of the usual flavor notes of a good sheng: hay, straw, honey, corn, etc… You get a bit of each, but unlike many shengs which I enjoy, this one has a naturally sweet flavor that accentuates its very un-sweet notes. It’s really nice! Reminds me of cornbread sort of.. Is that weird?

So although I would LOVE to age this baby, and I’m sure that it would age quite well; sadly, it probably won’t survive the next month, let alone this weekend. Highly recommended, if you can get your hands on some…