2014 Jingmai Raw

I didn’t write any notes while drinking this one, but this has got to have the strongest fruit taste of any sheng I’ve tried! To me the flavor like a mix of apricot, guava paste, and grape juice with some general floral, mineral and “sheng-y” notes. I don’t know how it would age, but it’s super mellow and enjoyable now

A good daily drink. Nothing too special from this cake though. A good sweetness after a slightly bitter few steeps near the beginning. Maybe apricot or peach notes, more dried than juicy. Slight astringency after the sixth steep, but a pleasant experience.

This was a beautiful tea! I was craving a decent Jingmai, and I remembered getting this. I broke off some generous chunks and stuck them in my yixing. The dry leaf was smoky and a deep hickory scent. This gorgeous leaf consists of long dark green tendrils. Its slightly compressed which is a good sign. I warmed up the leaf and gave them a whiff. There was a sweet brown sugar barbeque aroma rising from my teapot. I eagerly began brewing. The steeped leaves carried the same smoky tone, but it was like roasted greens. The flavor was just as tasteful. I could take in dark wood and sea salt caramel. This was a full bodied and aromatic brew. The only problem was that this tea tapered off rather quickly. It made for a short gongfu session. Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable. There was a prominent lasting huigan and the qi was quite potent. I am very happy to have more of this to share.

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From the sheng and shou TTB (10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s steeps). 2 grams in 2 oz.

Lovely nose: I think floral, but can understand people calling it apple or apricot. This is a very nice tea in a light style: slightly acidic with layers of light flavors. Good cha qi. As it cools, there is a darker edge. 2nd steep: Mild, slightly grassy aroma. The taste starts woody, but an undercurrent develops that starts like citrus but quickly becomes a different kind of fruit. It’s hard to separate the taste from the qi: I think I’d enjoy just about anything when I feel this good.

4th, 5th steeps: I was just about set to buy this, but suddenly the taste just went away!. Bland. 6th(2m): Soapy.

I don’t know what happened. I was really enjoying this tea, but it just quit on me. It is probably a fair value just based on the first three steeps, but the disappointment from the later steeps kind of put me off. I gave it a fairly high rating because the first three steeps were really pleasant. You have to enjoy the lighter style of pu-erh; if you like power, look elsewhere.

Backlog

Had this tea awhile ago and I remember it being really rough with bitterness in the first few steeps. It did not appeal to me at all. Around steep #5 it mellowed out. The bitterness was gone and it was a strong apricot taste. I didn’t try too many steeps after that. Next time I have this I think I will start drinking it at Steep 5 and see where it goes from there. It just kept getting better!

Another gift sample from “PUG”. Used a 100 ml Jingdezhen gaiwan, thin walled so not to over heat the leaf. One rinse then let it rest with the gaiwan lid on to allow for leaf expansion. The first 4 steeps were basically 5 seconds and then gradually added 5-10 second until the 15th steep then 30-40 seconds. 25 steeps and it started to peter out.
The aroma was not that big for me. New sneakers, hay a bit of pine nut. The flavor profile was also not that large. The pine nut and hay predominate for me ultra smooth with a slight astringency. Later the sweetness comes out to caress just when the astringency picks up, offering a nice balance. This is a good tea, but not showy or flashy, and when you have so many flashy showy shengs out there this one can get lost on your palate. I would brew this one for nubes who are expanding from greens to the pu erh world like my brother-in-law. Again not a bad tea just not a shiny jewel.

I got home to a wonderful package fr AllanK.
I had to have this tea right away. So my usual gongfu parameters for sheng
5g 100ml porcelain gaiwan 200F
Rinse/ 3/3/5/5/7/10sec etc
This sheng is very creamy. Like fruity cream of wheat. I really liked first 5 steeps. Then it got a little more bitter and astringent . Also some sour notes creeped up. Nothing major, nothing unpleasant . I just wish it stayed the same as first steeps. I really enjoyed those.

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This tea is good and this tea is strong. There were definite notes of apricots in this tea and it was sweet. I drank the first three steeps without sugar and it had apricot and sweet notes, maybe even stonefruits but I am not sure. There may have been a little smoke in there too. It was slightly bitter through the first four steeps and then the bitternessa became first noticeably dulled and eventually gone. The tea had a pleasant aftertaste throughout eight steeps. I must stress again that this was a strong tea. It never got as sweet as the 2014 Wild Monk, its character was a bit potent. It was an enjoyable tea session though and a rare afternoon one for me.

I steeped this eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it one rinse and let it rest for 10 min. I am not sure this really did anything but it couldn’t hurt. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, and 4 min. EVen after eight steeps this was strong tea. I would guess that if I wanted to continue I would get another seven steeps out of it.