Large Leaf from Old Trees Pu-erh

Thanks for the sample derk, I am going to end the decade with a tea unlike any other in my current stash. I have no idea how old this tea is, but it’s safe to say it’s quite old, possibly older than I am. The leaves look and smell like decaying autumn leaves (in the later stages of their decay) mixed with somewhat bioactive soil. Throughout the session, the aroma gets more and more cavernous.

There is not all that much I remember about the taste. It was mineral, spicy, mushroomy and very earthy. The aftertaste is sweet and cooling, but again doesn’t have all that much beyond the earthiness. Texture-wise, I found the tea very nice – slick and buttery although not too thick. However, one of the main takeaways for me is the cha qi, which I found interesting. It was very strong, but not at all aggressive. I would describe it as grounding overall, but the session came in three stages, mimicking the music selection (in brackets) – 1. primal (Amenra), 2. hypnotic (Burzum), and 3. meditative (Basinski).

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZRzIVURvI

8g of huge dry brittle medium brown leaves, the kind when you’re walking along a path, and they crunch underneath your feet. They barely fit in my teapot. The dry leaves smelled of dust, soil, dirt. The liquor was super dark, like espresso. The rinse smelled of wet earth, mud, and dirt. After the first infusion, the aroma changed. The liquor had a strong earthy, wet and rich soil aroma, and now a very faint aroma of dirt. The taste and feel were really not what I expected from the aroma either. First of all, mouth and throat feel. What comfort. It was so smooth, almost slick on my tongue, no astringency at all… And yet, the finish gave me a very slight powdery feeling or graininess on the tip of my tongue.

The way I’m going to describe the taste may not sound so appealing. It was like digging up a huge tree, and taking a bite of the roots. I know, I know, sounds strange but it is uniquely good. I looked forward to more infusions. In the second and third infusion, I got some spice, cinnamon-like, some minerals, some wet rocks. As I went through infusion after infusion, it was indeed relaxing, calming, each time looking forward to filling my teapot up. The finish was a subtle sweetness, with a little spice in the exhale, root-earthy-rock mixture. Hard to describe but it was an experience and I swear, if I were creative, this tea could help me write about nature.

Thank you so much, Derk for this experience :D

Yixing teapot, 8g, 130ml, 205°F, who know how many steeps, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s… Etc.

A cave of time immemorial. The outline of the falcon above. A sinking of the body into cool mineral soil. Libraries of worn braille in stone. Thick, smooth creases in the mumbling, shifting faces. Blind? No, I can see.

Do you remember? How could you forget.
It’s in your blood, it’s in your bones.
In these wet leaves, I know my home.

I purchased this Large Leaf from Old Trees Pu-erh from the bulk tea section at Rainbow Grocery. I was surprised to see several puerh from the Phoenix Tea Collection as well as a few daily drinkers, green and black. I’m not sure what prompted me to purchase this puerh since the dry leaf looks like it’s had better days, like an ancient pile of dry autumn leaves, ragged and with several large stems. Curiosity again?

It smells like what I imagine the best of aged puerh smells like. There are notes of clean soil and a very particular savory and spicy medicinal smell that I’m close to placing but just can’t get there. A hint of date syrup lies underneath. Warming and rinsing really brings all those notes forward, no new additions. The wet leaf shimmers like velvet under the light.

The first steep of 10s is a clear dark orange-red, thick, oily, and so smooth with a really pleasant soil note backed up by a strong minerality and savory quality. Silky, astringency and bitterness nowhere to be found. It retains this strength in character for many steeps. Right before I substantially increase the steep times, a very persistent and strong returning date sweetness emanates from my throat. I lost track of the number of steeps because I was in such a relaxed state, but the tea just faded away nicely, not leaving me wishing there was more to the session. Perfect.

I am so grateful to have tried a puerh with so much age. It’s an incredible tea and I’m regretting not purchasing more than one session’s worth. Though that does make for a good excuse to go on a day long bike ride from my new residence up north to the Phoenix Tea Collection and Museum in Lagunitas where I can hopefully purchase more.

Recommended for experienced puerh drinkers. This might be overwhelming or too strong of a flavor for a lot of people.

More reviews of what I think is the same tea can be found here: https://steepster.com/teas/chicago-tea-garden/10957-large-leaf-from-old-trees-pu-erh
As you can see, it has mixed reception.