2011 Yunnan Sourcing "Jing Gu Mini Cake" Raw Pu-erh

This puerh is very pleasant,m especially for a raw cake that is fairly new. No bitterness, if anything it is thick and smooth.

Main notes are Earthy wood and barnyard, hints of hay, bamboo, water chestnut, cashew

This has to be the worst tasting raw pu’erh I’ve ever had; Aliexpress/Ebay considered.

A hit of ‘what the hell’ processing. Some brisk astringency coming through a smoke screen of old vegetables.

I thought this was going to be pretty good.. but 10 steeps later, I have to give up and say no no no.

A very smoky tea for it’s age (I thought). Quite enjoyable, although I tried it in the early spring and I think it would be more suitable for fall weather drinking.

Here are my notes from my first steeping. I did the session over two days at my desk and got 17 good steeps in:

Leaf: 6g
Brewing Vessel: 90ml Gaiwan

Rinse – 3s

1: 5s
Very smoky! Slightly astringent. Dry leaf has a ripe fruity smell. Something between apricot and pear.

2: 5s
Even more smoky… very interesting. I was not expecting this from a 5yr raw.

3: 7s
Less smoky, but still a big smoky aftertaste. A warm, vegetal mouth-feel. Still not fruity.

4: 8s
Much lighter now. Quite good, although not much sweetness. Has a very dry finish.

5: 10s
The smokiness is definitely in the background now. A warm flavor. This would be an excellent fall tea.

6: 11s
Very light flavor. Should have added more time. The vegetal flavors are really coming through more and there’s not much smokiness.

7: 15s
Very bitter. Not bad, though.

8: 15s
Much more of the sweetness. Tasting more like the raws I’m used to

9: 18s
(note from next day)Don’t remember, but it was probably good and I probably chugged it…

NEXT DAY

10: ~20s
Warm with sweet vegetal hints. Much lighter. Perhaps it will “wake up” after this and come back in strength for the next steeping.

11: 26s
Floral hints coming through. Vegetal taste and mouth feel. Wet leaf smell moving much towards apricot.

12: 39s
Very smooth. Still a light body. Not quite sweet yet, but there is definitely an idea or a hint of floral sweetness. Good viscosity. Dry finish. Overall, pretty flat steep.

13: 45s
Getting a very apricot / fruity sweetness now. Very good.

14: 70s
Wet leaf smelling a little flat now. Not nearly as much flavor remaining. Less viscous, but still decent body. A slight dustiness. A bit of dried fruit aftertaste.

15: 120s
Very smooth and sweet.

16: 180s
Delicious. Much sweeter and smooth.

17: 240s
Quite good still. Much more dry, but smooth and sweet. Hardly a hint (if any) of the smokiness remains, although there is somewhat of a pleasing earthiness hinted in the finish. I think I’ll call this the last steeping. I have to head out early today.

I’m not really into the esoteric stuff but made me nice and relaxed and mellow and happy so you could say it has good “chi”/energy. I’ve been thinking about the Chi concept lately as many people use this word and I’ve noticed much more body effects/psychotropic effects now that I’m getting into pu’er and better tea in general. Perhaps I’ll try an L-theanine pill from NOW (brand) and see if that’s the major contributor.

A great purchase from Scott at YS. Very pleased with this one. I’m not quite sure about the other reviews on this one. I had no bitterness at all and tons of sweet fruit taste! Maybe try some different brewing parameters because this is a great sweet sheng that should be tried for sure. The sweetness was more of a returning “hui gan” on the back of the tongue that seemed to creep forward. A nice cooling in the throat as well. Very fruity on the nose with some smokiness. Not really any smokiness in the taste but on the nose for sure. I got more steeps than I could count on this one and it was a very giving leaf. Nice big leaves. What else can I say….brew it up “right” and it is a very good tea and I would highly recommend trying this one. I’ll be buying more for sure. Try 5-6 grams in a 100ml gaiwan with a 5 second rinse at 205f with about 5-8 second steeps adding a few seconds after the first couple. Worked for me with no real astringency and tons of sweetness! Enjoy!

From the Sheng and Shou TTB.

I didn’t really like this one, to tell you the truth. The flavors just didn’t hit me right. It’s definitely smoky, but I got a lot of bitterness, and nothing redeemable in later steeps. Good that I got to try it before buying a whole cake, because this one was on my wishlist! Now I know!

Not really digging this one. Maybe lower temps and less leaf and another decade would help

This will be a long and chatty note. Our internet went out in the middle of the night Sunday night. We had a freak ice/snow storm and turns out the neighbor’s pain in the neck willow tree screwed up the line. We have been able to tether through our phones to get on for work but it eats up our data so we have been trying to keep it to a minimum. I haven’t been on here much, haven’t been in chat, and I have really missed you guys.

Today was stressful at work. It is the 18th and all of our clients want their projects done early due to the holiday. Normal project cycle is to get it all in before the end of the month, and them nagging and pushing doesn’t make us get anything done any more quickly. It just stresses us out. And, it’s a holiday for us too so of course we would love to be done!

Due to work stress I decided to try this sheng, because I have read about how calming it can be. This sample came from a Steepster friend yesterday. I used 5 g in my fishy gaiwan and did “flash” steeps, as was recommended. I did two rinses. After that, the first couple of steeps were smoky and leathery, but not really in a bad way. After that the tea was much lighter tasting and I started to really enjoy it.

I didn’t get tea drunk like I have with oolong in the past. And to be honest I didn’t think there was much of an effect at all. But about 20 minutes later I was having kitty time and I realized that I was in the most content, blissful and un-stressed state possible. That was the aha moment.

I remember asking the resident Pu heads once if they drink it for the taste or for how it makes them feel. I can really see myself seeking it out for the stress relief. At this point the flavor is still a bit foreign to me, but I am encouraged that I don’t dislike it. I am looking forward to the continued journey.

This sample came from boychik

It’s sad when a tea comes so highly recommended and just isn’t doing it for me.

I found this one bitter. In a not good way. I did really short infusions with it, and it was still just tasting bitter to me. The leaf in the bag looked pretty broken, so maybe that was it? I dunno.

It is a good smoky, but the bitter just didn’t go right and did awful things for me.

I’m sad to say that I didn’t like this one.

I’m combining two different tastings for this tea.

The first was steeped at 175 degrees. I loved the smoky aroma, but the taste was just too harsh to enjoy. The taste was dominated by the smoke, with some grass hiding beneath the smoke. By the 6th pot it was starting to smooth out, but still harsh. The nose was always lovely: the best part.

I was disappointed, since I’d just bought 100 grams, but decided to try again at 200 degrees. This time 1st there was the same smoky nose and taste but not the harshness. Lots of cha qi. Powerful, closed-in, just a hint of bitterness. I had about 4 steeps and each one was fairly smooth and full. Good flavors.

I’m perplexed. A month ago I had a sheng that was terrible at 200 degrees, but great at 175. Now I have the opposite. A tip of the hat to boychik, who persuaded me to publish more tasting notes.