2011 Spring Norbu White Buds - 250 g Sheng Pu-Erh Tea Cake

Since I’ve spent the better part of the weekend knee-deep in flu plague, I’ve been on a white tea kick. However, this Monday morning, I wanted to go for something a little more pu-erh-y. I split the difference and went for this “white bud pu-erh”. I use quotations on that because I’m still unsure what the difference between a white bud pu-erh and an aged white tea are? Neither really go through a wet-piling, and sometimes aged white teas (and young white teas) are compressed into cakes. So, how does one classify that?

That aside, the taste confused the issue further. It resembled – beat for beat – a young, Yunnan-grown Silver Needle. Citrus and herbal notes and all. Toward the finish, it had some of the winy properties of a sheng pu-erh, only rougher – given its young age.

I guess I’ll leave my philosophical question aside and just answer with, “NOM!”.

Pretty new to pu-erh, including sheng. I’ve never had a tea from Lincang that I knew was from Lincang, have never had a white bud pu-erh, and have not yet had another 2011 pu. Basically, those are the salt-grains one should take along with my review.

Cake itself was fairly loose; I managed to pry out about 10g with my hands alone. The cake appears to be the same pretty leaf inside as on the face. Dry leaf smells slightly sweet, like a white.
Using 5.2g of leaf in a 100ml porcelain gaiwan, with 195F-ish tap water [that I don’t know the composition of]. Gave the tea a 30-sec rinse with hot water.

Wet leaf smells spicy-vegetal-minty in a way I can’t really put my finger on, much less describe. It’s a very strong smell, amazingly different from the taste (the taste carries only the vaguest hint of the spice), and I’m quite bothered that I can’t place it or even decompose it into recognizable elements. Maybe this is what people describe as “medicinal”, though that’s not an association I would make with this tea.

First infusion was ~10sec; very pale yellow liquor. Tastes very slightly dusty, slightly sweet in a white tea sort of way. Found in the centre of my cup, prettily enough, what appeared to be a feather. Very perplexed that I can’t identify the leaf scent.
Second infusion ~20sec; slightly darker yellow liquor; may have overdone it, but if I did, the tea is not punishing me for it. Kind of a sweet minty floral taste — not strongly floral, just a bit. Round flavour; I wouldn’t say buttery, but similar. Still a light dusty note on top. Liquid smells kind of summery. Astringency is hardly present. Pleasant light aftertaste, sweetly floral with hints of wood.

Infusions continue to be ~20sec apiece. Slightly more sheng-style astringency comes out, though not a lot. The previously-observed not-buttery mouthfeel progresses into something I would tentatively describe as “chewy”. Liquor continues to smell and taste sweet; almost like a candy-tea, though not what I would call overwhelmingly sweet, and it does have a sharper dusty-spicy scent on top. This is the strength of sweetness I always hoped to get out of white teas and never managed, so it’s interesting to get it out of a raw pu-erh processed white tea, though I suppose maybe that’s what Norbu means when they say it’s bolder than a normal white tea.

This might be lovely as a dessert tea in any season, being lightly and cleanly sweet with hints of spice and having a clean aftertaste of reasonable lifetime. A very interesting flavour; I’m wondering what will happen if I provide a good aging environment.

This is a lovely Sheng – sweet, smoky, with a malty taste. The brew is very light coloured, and tastes great brewed gongfu style in my new Yixing teapot (dedicated to Shengs). It’s still a little rough at the edges at this point and I have a feeling that with time it will mellow and grow even sweeter, but it’s still lovely to drink now.
I got this a free sample in my latest order from Norbu and I most certainly will buy a cake during my next shopping spree there.
P.S. Norbu have changed the packaging of their tea, and their new bags are really lovely.

To be honest, I was kind of upset that I pulled this tea out to drink (I have a box of 100+ samples to try so I grab whatever I get first).
Thankfully, this is actually pretty good. Not only is the tea a smooth ride down from my mouth through my throat and to whatever it ends up, it actually taste quite nice. Nice and mellow with a splendid aroma that is faint but pleasant.
I cut this one short at 10 steeps

Really? I filled up my gaiwan for this…I can smell what I call “mall puerh” a mile away, that incense-y store flavor you can find in a million cakes on EBay and Taobao. This is just sad, leathery old poor quality “tea” to which a few young “white buds” have been added in as a sprinkling. Some of the tea is just black leaf along with brown, leathery leaves. You can talk to me all day long about brewing it “cooler,” but nothing will improve this leaf. I can’t believe a company online which is trying to be nice actually would put their name on this cake, but whatever. I’m a person who wants to like a tea, but I’d rather drink dandelion greens from my yard than this.

From the Sheng Traveling Tea Box.

The first time I drank this tea, it seemed closed-in and lacking in flavor until about the fifth steep. It was okay, but I wasn’t impressed. Looking back, I discovered that I had steeped it at 200 degrees. This time, I used 175 and it seemed like an entirely different tea. I’m really enjoying it.

First steep (15 s; all steeps 3 gms in 3 oz): Tastes like a green tea with unusually good body; grassy/straw flavors. During subsequent steeps (20, 30 s): the grass flavor disappeared and was replaced by wood, with hints of straw and smoke. The flavor deepened and became full and complex.

By the 4th steep (60 s) it was weakening and losing much of its complexity. Back to a light straw flavor. 5th steep (2 min): Rich and smooth. Light but still complex. If 5 steeps seems too little for a pu-erh bear in mind that this 2.8 gram sample has now produced 15 oz of tea, and there is still some gas in the tank.

This tea was an interesting insight (accidental) into how much the water temperature can affect a tea. Also a strong confirmation on the advice I was given to steep young sheng as though it were a green tea.

I drank this tea yesterday while I was at work. I really enjoyed it! It reminded me of a Kenyan Silver Needles I got from Butiki Teas, with some interesting sheng notes mixed in. Very unique! I finished it up, and before I was going to write my tasting note for it I decided to go stretch the canvas print I had just made…AND I TOTALLY STAPLED MY THUMB! :-O

It was pretty painful. If you want to see, check it out here (not for the squeamish!) http://twitpic.com/ebiscg

Anyway, I never got back to my desk to write this note. My manager took me to the MEC and a doctor pulled out the staple and gave me a tetanus shot and some pain killers. Last night was rough, it was pretty painful and I had trouble sleeping. It seems slightly better today and I am back at work! I could use a nap though…and/or some tea!

it is my second day of steeping this fabulous tea.
Gongfu method
5g 100 ml gaiwan 200F
rinse/pause/ 5/5/7/10/15/15/20sec etc
Quite unusual for me. Dry leaves are so pretty silvery green and uniform in size.
Sweet, somewhat floral with pine notes. Later steeps introduce anise maybe, but its faint and I’m not sure its anise, but its there. pretty thick, yellow. there is some bitterness but its slight and welcoming to make things interesting.
i’m so glad be able to try such unusual and great tasting tea.
Many thanks to the an amazingly generous Steepsterite.

A very interesting puerh. The 2011 Norbu Spring White Buds Raw Bing Cha is made of material from Yong De of Lincang Prefecture near China’s border with Myanmar which was harvested in the Spring of 2007. Light compression which flakes off very easily. A little sweetness and a very nice cooling effect. Intense yet delicate evergreen scent. It does taste earthy but still light and smooth, a little naturally sweet, somewhat fruity yet slightly astringent, and there is a bit of malt with a nice lingering aftertaste. Later infusions definitely become more woody overall producing a hint of smoke with a few notes of cedar. A lighter puerh which is definitely worth exploring if only for the purpose of appreciating the many different forms that Pu-Erh can take.