2011 Menghai Dayi "Smooth As Jade"

Bonnie was so generous to share this wonderful puerh that she received from mrmopar, so many thanks to both of you!

I was feeling out of sorts tonight, both physically and mentally. I have a cold or allergies or something and a lot of mental stress right now, as we are in the midst of making some big decisions, except that we AREN’T making them, if you get my drift! I know it is past bedtime, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I went. Tea and soft music sounded especially inviting! (I already did the “driving fast down the expressway with the Pulse blasting” thing, it was time for something different.)

I have saved several samples from various people until I feel it is the right time to appreciate them, and it is the right time for this one!

Because both Bonnie and mrmopar said to throw away the rinse, I did, though I often drink the rinse. This rinse looked pale, so I followed instructions. The first steep at 30 seconds was mild and very civilized. This has no fishiness, a nice well-oiled horse tack aroma, and a whisper of polished cedar beams. Each steep was about the same length of time, but the third and fourth were noticeably darker. There is a lingering sweet aftertaste, and I don’t know if this makes sense but the tea feels extraordinarily WET. I am drinking from a tiny double-walled glass cup, but if this was in a great big glass I think I could just throw it back and chug it. This is so smooth and thirst quenching. My angry throat is a lot less angry, and my stuffed head seems to be clearing a bit.

As I sit here waiting for steep number….what is it now? Seven? I feel as if my mouth is coated with a delicious infused oil. Is this what truffle oil would be like? I have never had it, but it is what I imagine it must be.

Body and soul are much more fit for having drunk this tonight. This is so mild, so smooth, I think this would be a fabulous introduction to puerh for anyone who is afraid to try it. Thank you, thank you, again, to Bonnie and mrmopar.

Thank you mrmopar for this sample Pu-erh tea

As a former lover of Louisiana style coffee (roasted chicory coffee, brewed and served with hot milk), Pu-erh has become my new morning favorite cuppa.

Before brewing, I was watching some Olympic distance swimming on TV and remembering how I first learned to swim in a water tank on Mine Hill overlooking Silicon Valley (San Jose).
My grandfather was foreman of a mountain that is known as New Almaden Quicksilver Mines (now a State Park) and next to the road to his house (which was the Parson’s home during the early days of California history) was a spring-fed water tank. Grandpa drained and painted the wooden water tank light blue, put 2×4 boards at spots around the top as hand-holds and then let the tank fill back up. This was our swimming hole. ICE COLD SPRING WATER!
(My family lived down a dirt path from Grandpa in what was an old Miner’s house for a little over a year. My brother and I traveled to grade school by jeep, traveling up and down the mountain. http://flic.kr/p/cNHKSo We played in the old ghost town buildings and caves.)
There was nothing better back then… than drinking red kool-aide and swimmin with the toxic mercury fumes from active retorts not far away.

Review:
This sample was a lovely dark brown bark nugget of ripe Pu-erh with a mild and sweet dry smell.

Rinsed once, and a 30 second steep each round.

The wet leaves began as a strong, nutty wheat bread aroma then changed on the second steep to bready leather like bread and boots toasting on the hearth togeather. On the third steep the leaves were sweet smelling, lightly leathery and bready.

The color of the liquor was clear, reddish brown, then very dark coffee and finally dark red brown.

1. When I took a gulp of the red-brown Pu-erh, I already was happy with the wheat bread scent from the wet leaves and the taste didn’t disappoint me. It was very savory, like an unsalted broth that seems salty and led to juiciness. The flavor was nutty sweet toasted pecan, full of energy on my tongue.

2. Wow, did the liquor get dark! There was a definate cedar and wheat taste which stopped just shy of bitter. The mouthfeel was juicy and very smooth. I could feel the energy in the tea like the power in the earth waking up in a soulful amen.

3. I held the tea in my mouth a moment and then drank it down, letting the flavor hit all my tastebuds like a wave. There was a huge flavor of wheatberries, nutty, rich and chewy. My daughter Annalisa grinds wheat for bread in a huge loud machine in her kitchen and is always baking with the granddaughters and taking bread to people. I love the smell of her bread and the wheat. The scent gets into your eyeballs!
I added a little sugar which created a wonderful liquor reminding me of those old fashioned candies you get at historic places made from Horehound and Sassifras. It’s why I make extra and drink Pu-erh cool or cold sometimes later in the day.

So far the Pu-erh’s from mrmopar are so good that I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite. What a problem to have!
This is very drinkable for the smoothness. (I did like the first and third steep onward the best.)

30-40 seconds was way long enough for steeping and I used about
1.5 grams in 4oz boiling water.

Thank you to a Steepsterite who wishes to remain nameless. Said person has done me a good turn by sending this tea to me.

So, I spent most of today trying to persuade my new router/modem to talk to my laptop via the wireless connection. Needless to say I got somewhat frazzled as well as being irked that the wireless speed was registering at less than one tenth of the wired speed. Clearly the issue was to do with my laptop (a venerable old soldier, if ever I saw one) and the young whippersnapper that is the new router. I suspect the router made a disparaging comment about old people, or something like that, and the laptop rapped the router on the shins with its stick. Then they both sulked. Anyway, it is sorted now, and I rewarded myself with a pot of tea. I think I deserved it!

I used a 170ml Yixing pot to brew this tea and put 8g of tea in the pot. Then I rinsed it for a few seconds to clear it out and wake it up. The rinse was rich and dark already so I steeped it for 10 seconds in the first instance. The liquor was still very dark. It tasted earthy, slightly metallic, but with a hint of cinnamon behind those other flavours. I found it to be smooth and light overall. The mouthfeel was silky and much less full than most teas I drink, but that made this a particularly easy tea to drink. Given how the tea is lasting (Steep 8 and still going strong) that is probably a good thing because I shall be drinking it for the rest of the evening. I shall certainly not complain about that!

another tea in line with the smaller 150 gram Menghai Dayi Wu Zi Deng Ke cake. very similar just a larger version. floral fruity and dark tea good for multiple steeps.earthy aroma. wash tea the first steep discard and drink the second one.