He Kei Unfermented Puerh

Herbal Punch(not your grandpa’s pu erh)

Still under the weather so again can not comment on flavor or taste too much. As for dry leaf nothing discernible keeping in my mind I have a cold, but wet leaf is where it gets interesting. This is the second offering from jalam I have tasted and the second tea to be unusually fragrant, not sure if its a theme or just a consequence of autumn plucking and/or being processed for immediate consumption or a combination. These pu erh so far have not been young sheng as I know it, very different but in a nice way. Not sure if “tea masters” would call this blasphemy but I enjoy them.

Once again the scent was hard to place it was surprised me as I was again not expecting such a unique smell. It reminded me of a high elevation green tea I have had from taiwan which also strangely enough smelled like an herbed pasta sauce, with a slight extremely short lived soured/fermented lemon almost alcoholic front nose. The body was notable as well especially when I increased the time the visual viscosity and oils made me a happy camper as I look for body in my pu erh. That being said I did get a tannic drying almost soap like texture at a 2 min steep later but that was obviously pushing the limits of normal session steeps so early any how. About three steeps in I might also note my vision when to fish eye lens (tea drunk) but only slightly and relaxing which is nice because with all the tea I have been drinking lately I have a high tolerance for sure.

I never tasted much bitterness that everyone else is mentioning I am not sure if this is a my preference for “strong” tea or result of my new found storage (boveda pak 75% RH) or my upgrade to mineral spring water or once again a combination but supposedly I have read others comment that those factors can change a tea dramatically.

All in all a keeper in my book checks all my boxes for preferences in pu erh decent body (check), tea drunk(check), unique fragrance(check), pleasing bitterness(check). Once again I will try to up the leaf next time and see if I can coax anymore pleasing bitterness without the super tannic drying resulting from high infusion time.

A very strong flavored, orchid sheng! He Kai also has a strong vegetal finish. I found this tea not that flexible – if you over steep it it is quite bitter (or maybe that flavor intensive vegetal). The after taste in this tea is really floral, more floral that drinking it!

I love the floral in this one, but I need to play with it more to minimize the punch it packs as I found He Kai too strong for me, even with 5 second infusions.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/kai-unfermented-puerh-jalam-teas-tea-review/

This is the August offering from Jalam Teas, & this is my first session with it.

It started out very clean, with instant clarity of mind. It was a quality that reminds me of sage, not so much in the flavor as in the sense of clarity it imparts, & there was also a slight bitter edge, but it was the kind of bitterness that I tend to enjoy.

After a few rounds I had the image of a pine forest after rain…or some kind of evergreen, or maybe eucalyptus…yeah maybe that. Just a real nice aromatic sinus opening feeling.

I was really enjoying this one, when I got sidetracked, & accidentally left it steep for way too long. Drats! That cup was way too bitter. It took a couple steeps to get back on track, I got one that remind me vaguely of an orchid oolong I used to have in my collection, mildly sweet & floral, but otherwise the magic was kind of gone. Luckily, I have plenty of this to enjoy, & hopefully next time I won’t screw it up!