White Bud Puerh

I have several teas that really need a sipdown due to age. This is not one of them. It is supposed to get better with age. I just couldn’t help myself and now it is gone. A wonderful fermented white tea. Retains enough of its white tea traits to be recognizable and supplements it with fresh raw puerh like earthiness. This is from Yunnan but I don’t know if it is truly a puerh but somehow calling it dark tea doesn’t seem correct either. How about I just say it was really good. Definitely worth trying if you can find it.

At last, the moment I have been waiting for! I wanted to taste this one when I could concentrate on it, treat it with careful attention, and squeeze every last possible steep out of it. This is a gift from K S. Thank you!

The leaves seemed to have a sweet, fruity smell. Either that is the melon K S was referring to, or the bag picked up a little of the scent of the Superfruit Sencha. If the latter is the case, I am pleased to say that I believe the taste is unadulterated. As I pour the hot water over the leaves, there is foam, like suds, but I didn’t use soap on this pot and as usual I rinsed it several times before using it tonight. Each steep got a new little froth at the top of the pot. Odd thing to happen, but this doesn’t taste soapy at all, so I have no idea what it is doing.

I have only had one or two shengs. This one is smoother than Ziyun Puerh Maocha, but has that same top note of brash youth one finds in shengs. It is in the aroma only, not in the taste. It really looks and almost smells like a sturdy white tea, but the sheng flavor is there for certain. My first impression was that this isn’t quite like anything I have tried before. As I tried to come up with descriptors, broth came to mind. I could really see using this a soup base and adding some spring onions and chives and soft wonton wrappers and sweet crunchy vegetables. Yes, it would make a wonderful spring soup base!

There is a strong grain flavor, too. I think it is oats that I taste most here. I am not getting cucumber right now. We’ll see if that comes up in later steeps!

Steep two: this is heartier, and I taste the maltiness more. The tea seems dark (in character, weightiness) and oaty as I sip. Now in the aroma, if I Inhale really deeply, there is a fruitiness. That must be the cucumber. They always seem so fresh and crisp and that is mixed with the salty oat flavor.

Steep three: The color remains strong, this tastes salty! Lovely oats and broth, warm white bud or silver needle flavor, mixed with sheng.

Thank you, K S, for a really neat tea experience and for the opportunity to taste such an unusual tea! When I stop sloshing, I may go for another steep!