Sun-Dried Purple Buds Wild Pu-erh Tea Varietal

This is a delightful tea. It hits piney with a slight sour/pucker at the end. The cup smells of juicy berries though I do not get the taste in the tea. As I steeped on, 3rd and 4th steeps, the tea grew smoother and rounded out. Weird but I like it.

It’s kind of mild, but good. Has a fruity, savoury depth that’s also present in other purple teas I’ve tried. Some piney freshness is present, mostly coming out in later steeps.

A light-colored liquor, the first sip of which has quite a sweetness. Definitely getting a good bit of pine, both from the scent of the leaves and from the flavor itself. A slightly sweet scent clings to the empty cup. I’m left with only a hint of a lingering flavor on the tongue with this particular steep, and I am still feeling the nice, smooth sensation that the liquor introduced. The second steep brings more of the same, and the following steep is flavorful, yet mellow, with a very refreshing, almost minty aftertaste. Still enjoying it four and five steeps in, we’ll see if anything changes!

These buds and I have had a rocky relationship. I first got them about a month ago, after reading some rave-y reviews here on Steepster. I plopped a good amount into my gaiwan and started brewing, only to be greeted with…sourness. These things were so unbelievably sour, like someone had squeezed an unripe lemon into my tea. I tossed them after a few steeps.

Over the past couple weeks I’ve brewed them up a few times, and have learned to use less leaf and colder water. I’ve got the brewing parameters right, but still don’t love these things. They’re sort of sweet up-front, but with this lingering, drying sourness that I can’t seem to shake no matter how low the temp/how fast I steep. It’s the kind of sourness that sits at the back of your throat and coats your tongue…ugh.

As for the rest of the taste, they’re a little sweet and have a sort of malty flavor to them. I’m not getting the hay or usual white tea flavors with these—they’re their own thing.

Anyway, while they’re very much not to my taste, other people seem to like them! Just brace yourself for a mouth-puckering experience.

These little buds smell intensely of pine and stonefruits and, and the soup follows that profile closely. The first steeps tasted of peach, were drying to the mouth and had a pungent yet pleasing aftertaste that was hard to describe. The evergreen flavors really rolled in after four steps and gave the soup a green mango taste. The aftertaste was strong and sweet, yet refreshing as well. A slight sourness grew with each steep and the flavor turned into a sweet and vegetal clover-like aroma. These buds are really an amazing experience!

5/12/14
Spring 2014 Sun-Dried Purple Buds from the “ye sheng” varietal of camellia tea trees which grow wild in tropical Dehong.
The dry buds are brownish purple-green and smell like tobacco, prunes, the outdoors in the mountains.
Brewed the buds at 160F for 3 minutes Western style.
Liquor is white, clean, clear with a light tint of champagne color with scents of subtle cinnamon, prune.
Wet leaves now have turned a bit more green and revived to their natural state. I love these bud type teas,,,It’s like you picked the wild buds and brewed them over a fire in the mountains. Very natural and wild.
The flavor is fruity and layered. There is honey, subtle cinnamon notes, pruny tobacco.

Second steeping – I upped the temp to 190F for 3 minutes still Western style.
Brought out a bit more of the more dominant tobacco notes and the subtle ones stepped back. I like the lower temp for buds though this steeping is also delicious. Both temps produced delicious results.

I am aging the rest of these buds for a while so I’ll be checking back and drinking and noting the date here every once in a while :) Delicious!! Not rating any of my pu-erhs because they are ever changing and am learning and new to when their peak will be. Very yummy right now so I can only imagine this one will get sweeter and more complex :)
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7/25/14
Couldn’t resist getting a teaspoon of this out of my aging jar to try today. I brewed Western style at 175F for 3 minutes. The liquor is pearl clear color and the scent is definitely Sheng with notes of tobacco, wild herbs, and honey.
The flavor has mellowed since I’ve had it in the unglazed jar!!! Far out!!!!!! It is creamy, tobacco, peach pit, honey. Very beautiful dry purple buds too. I love this tea to look at as well as drink!!

I enjoyed this tea from the first moment – opening the bag and inhaling the aroma resulted in thoughts of walking through a pine forest. The tea is full of honey sweetness. It keeps on giving and giving of itself.

Very clear, pale yellow tea soup; the taste is sweet and fruity with hints of evergreen. First steep offers a pleasant evergreen flavor; the next two steeps begin to produce subtle flavors of fruit (light and subtle like apples); my last two steeps were pleasantly mellow and sweet. I plan to resteep the remaining leaves twice and chill in the fridge overnight.

Bottom line – fun to play with; very forgiving; quite flexible and versatile; potential for many resteeps.