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Backlogging and based partly on my memory

This is, I believe, a sample I purchased from Teavivre at the end of last year (2013).

I used my standard raw pu-erh brewing parameters while steeping it: 150ml gaiwan; start water temperature at near boiling and work my way up to boiling; 15’ rinse, 30’, 45’, 60’, etc. Stevia added.

The tea liquor had a nice clear, yellowish color, with the standard raw pu-erh aroma.

The flavor was what I have come to expect from a quality raw pu-erh, although it is not a flavor I particularly like or can get excited about—too fishy, sour, or like bitter greens (I got that phrase from yyz’s review).

Although the wet leaf was largely whole, I noticed that there were a lot of long stems amongst the wet leaf, mostly stems attached to leaves (perhaps that is standard, I haven’t analyzed the wet leaf of enough quality raw pu-erh teas yet).

Overall, having had a number of pu-erh samples from a a few companies over the last 6 months or so, I find Teavivre’s pu-erh to be quality—the leaf is more or less whole, the flavor of the tea is clean, and the tea liquor has a good aroma. This tea is no exception. I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to pu-erh (having been drinking it for about for about 8 – 9 months), especially raw pu-erh, so I don’t have much here to say about this particular tea. I was able to get four good steepings out of it, and it could perhaps have yielded a fifth. Although I did not find anything ‘stand-out’ about this tea, I think it is a tea I could drink on occasion as a kind of tonic for my digestive system.

I am working at doing these reviews a little more imperfectly, because otherwise it will take me FOREVER to review all of the teas I want to review.

I got this as a sample from a friend: thank you!

I am glad I had an opportunity to compare this tea to early spring 2014 Yunnan Sourcing (YS) “Sun-Dried Buds” Wild Pu-erh tea varietal I have brewed up a number of times so far.

This tea was harvested in the late winter/early spring of 2011.

The dry tea is very similar in appearance and aroma to the 2014 YS tea varietal: largish green and white cluster-like buds, with light-brown edges, with the exception that there were no brown twigs (as there was with the YS version), and the Mandala version was not quite as green-ish in color as the YS version (not surprising as the Mandela version is three years older). There was very little aroma in the dry tea buds, but not much less than the 2014 YS tea varietal.

I used my ceramic 180 ml blue and white gaiwan, Stevia, approximately 7 grams of tea buds, 7 OZ water.
I started at about 175, 1’ and increased the temp a bit and added a minute, for each successive steeping, and so far I got the 5 steepings.

The tea liquor has a very light, clear yellowish-green color; it has a very similar aroma to the 2014 YS tea varietal: reminiscent of a forest. The flavor is sweet, spicy, somewhat fresh, with a hint of pine needles.

To me, in many respects this is like a white tea in terms of delicate flavor, sweetness, and freshness. But because this tea is technically a pu-erh, my understanding is that it should mellow with age (rather then going bad after a year or two), and to me that gives it a HUGE advantage over any typical white tea. Although this tea does not come across as fresh as the 2014 YS tea varietal (which I expected), overall, I am impressed that this 2011 version of wild Yabao tea buds seems to be able to stand its ground when going up against a much fresher version. It seems to have as much flavor, aroma, and staying power over multiple steepings as did the 2014 YS tea varietal. This tea is considerably more expensive the the YS version, but at least I know this one stands up well after three years.

I got this as a sample from a friend: thank you!

NOTE: This green tea was stored in a thin baggie for a week or so before I transferred it to a glass jar to showcase it on our kitchen table—in a spot where no direct light or sunlight could shine on it ; unfortunately, it ended up sitting there for almost a week before I brewed it up (I was originally planning to brew it up the day after I transferred it). So the storage on my end was less than ideal. I judge that’s not a lot of time to be in less than ideal conditions; still, although it’s not likely it lost a noticeable amount of its freshness before it made it to my gaiwan, it is possible.

The dry leaf looked like medium sized, gently curled leaf, with a few thin twigs; it did not have a very strong aroma, making me think right away if this was likely a 2013 harvested tea (as of this writing, their website has no harvest date for this tea).

I am guessing there was approximately 6 – 8 grams of dry tea, I used my standard green tea brewing parameters in my blue and white 180ml gaiwan, Stevia added.

……….1st: ~175, 1’
……….2nd: ~175. 1.5
……….3rd: ~180, 1.5’ (normally I go to 2’)

The tea liquor had a clear light-green color, with a very mild vegetal aroma; I’m not certain about this, but it didn’t smell fresh to me.

1st steeping (Using Brita filtered water): distinctive vegetal green tea flavor (unrecognizable at the moment) with a bit of bitterness on the roof of my mouth (though not unpleasant).
2nd steeping (Using tap water): not much flavor, and what was there tasted flat and bitter. However, I finally got descriptor for the aroma of the wet leaf: asparagus. That I like. Still, based on the lack of flavor, I am going back to filtered water for the 3rd.
3rd steeping (Using Britta Filtered water; due to the bitterness on the second steeping, I kept the time at 1.5’): it tasted better than the 2nd, yet still with some bitterness. I judged there was no justification to go for a 4th on this tea.

The appearance of the used wet leaf is what is most notable about this tea. I have dissected the wet leaf of literally dozens upon dozens of green teas (I actually used to take pictures of them), so I believe I have much experience to draw from in terms of what I judge to be quality Chinese green tea. After the first and second steepings the tea in the gaiwan appeared to have a beautiful deep green color and looked to me like quality leaf. Yet, once I dumped it out on the counter and looked closely at it I was a little surprised at what I saw. Yes, I am detail oriented, and so those reading this may find this is a bit much, but to me there are several interesting things to note. Most of the teas I have had are what I consider to be artisan, single-estate, loose-leaf Chinese tea. I have found that the leaf of single-estate teas to be of uniform size and color (I believe the leaves of single-estate teas come from the same variety of bush, are all picked within a relatively small time frame, and are chosen by a relatively strict standard as to size of the leaf).

First off, although there were lots of stems, many of which where large (not too uncommon), there were a few nice looking buds as well. I checked the description on Mandala’s website, and its not clear if this is ‘single-estate tea’ or not (with leaf of the same age and type of bush), yet I don’t believe I have ever seen a whole-leaf Chinese green tea where the leaf varies so much as in this tea: there are a number of large army green colored leaves along with a few much smaller and much lighter green colored leaves. It looked to me much like some of Teavana’s green teas I have dissected in the past. Furthermore, this tea does not have the fresh appearance that the rest of the green teas I have been drinking this spring have (a few of the leaves in this tea looked shriveled). Although Mandela has harvest dates for many of their teas, because I didn’t see a harvest date on their website for this tea, I assume it is not of the 2014 harvest (harvest dates for green teas in particular are important, because most green tea looses significant value—flavor, aroma, and freshness—after about a year or so).

Overall, although I liked the aroma and initial appearance of the wet leaf, I was not impressed with this tea. The flavor was lacking, and there was more bitterness than what I normally find in a green tea. Still, it may not have ‘showed up’ for me for a number of reasons, perhaps due to storage, and perhaps because, as some green teas are, this one is finicky and needs to be brewed in a very particular way (a way I did not use). In terms of value, I judge this tea is very highly priced at $8/OZ, as there are at least a few teas I can find that are fresh and at least the same quality, for much less (even through English language online venders). Still, for a number of reasons, including potential storage issues, and because this tea is probably from the 2013 harvest, my final judgement on this tea is inconclusive.

Preliminary review

I got this sample from a friend. : – )

I estimate I used 4-5 grams, and I didn’t quite fill the gaiwan with water. I completed 6 Steeps starting at near boiling then moved to boiling water; rinse/30/60/90/120/150/~ 300; Stevia added; 150ml gaiwan.

Noteworthy: as I was looking at the wet leaf in my gaiwan after the first steeping, I noticed the little bit of tea liquor left behind had a consistency or viscosity I had never seen before: it was like it was silky, rich, and/or oily? Whatever it was, I believe it indicated there is more (complexity) to the liquor than what I have seen in the shus I have been drinking.

I don’t consider myself to be very skilled at nailing down flavors, so sometimes I look at the reviews of others to see if their notes strike a cord with me; as I have a hard time with describing the flavors of cooked pu-erh tea, I decide to do that this time, and from at least one review (MissB) I saw the flavor descriptors ‘cocoa’ & ‘earthy’; I definitely get those flavor notes (perhaps even ‘malty’). Furthermore, there were no off, musty, or odd flavors in my cup. The color is clear and rich, and what comes to mind is the color of mulch. I looked at the wet leaves, but nothing interesting to note other than the pieces are as big or bigger than any other shu I have had, and they were a very dark brown color.

I usually try to test the steeping staying power on the last steeping, and the length tends to be somewhere between 5 – 10 minutes; on this final steeping at approximately 6 minutes it still had flavor (although I used less water) and it had no bitterness what-so-ever.

Definitely one of the best shus I have tried. I have plenty of the dry tea left to do another session sometime.

Preliminary Review

Interesting note: when I bought this tea a few months ago it was priced at $4.00. Now it is $4.80.

150ml easy-pour gaiwan, boiling, using my standard times for pu-erh: rinse/30/60/90/120/360, Stevia added.

Yesterday I finally tackled the task of compartmentalizing all of my pu-erh; I decided to keep my sheng (raw) in a cardboard box that four Teavana teacups came in (the size of a small shoe box) and my shou (cooked) in a tall terra cotta wine brique with a cork top I found at a goodwill recently. Unfortunately, I found that this mini-cake almost fits in the brique. Then I thought, “Well, almost is not going to stop me from putting this cake in here!” Anyway, I had yet to try this tea, so I decided this was as good time as any to take some tea from the cake by trimming some off one ‘edge’ so it could fit, and then brew up the ‘trimmings’; in the process of trimming a little at a time while seeing if it would fit it turns out I had to take enough tea for about three steeping sessions; so I decided to brew up about 5-6 grams right away and then put the rest in a plastic bag (I plan to brew the trimmings sometime over the summer.)

I am sitting here writing this after the tea is all gone, as I wasn’t planning on writing this review. So, my observations here are general. Later this summer I plan to pay more attention to the flavor and aroma for a more thorough review.

This tea is different than any of the other cooked pu-erhs I’ve had: it was lighter in flavor, smoother, and even seemed to have a kind of fresh quality to it without any of the musty-ness that most of the other cooked pu-erh seems to have had. It wasn’t harsh, edgy or too fishy either, as I was expecting from reading about how young cooked pu-erh can taste. It had a beautiful reddish-brown color that was much lighter than the color of the cooked pu-erh I had just yesterday. This is my first mini-cake and I have to say, overall, I am impressed with the entire experience; it’s very different than brewing up a sample or a mini tou. I may try brewing this up in my Yixing next time.

Although I still don’t find cooked pu-erh to be something I would drink for pleasure, this is probably the best tasting one yet. As varied as I understand the selection of pu-erh teas to be, and as deeply rooted in Chinese culture as it is, I decided to invest my time and energy into exploring this class of tea hoping to unearth a least a few of it’s hidden treasures. For me this is a kind of long- term experiment, undertaken in large part because of how pu-erh seems to not only captivate tea enthusiasts worldwide but to hold their attention for a lifetime.

Preliminary Review

UPDATE: I did three more steepings, the last one at about 6 minutes to test it’s endurance, and it help up well with flavor. The last one I didn’t add sweetener and I was more easily able to identify the most prominent flavor: hay. It’s not a flavor I really enjoy, but it’s not a bad one either. The fifth had a bit of bitterness such that I could feel the dryness on the roof of my mouth, reminding me of the dryness I experienced recently from a few red wines I tried at Trader Joe’s.

150ml easy-pour gaiwan, boiling, rinse/30/60/90/120/360, Stevia added.

I have tried this pu-erh at least twice now, and I think so far it is my favorite cooked pu-erh. Admittedly it’s one of the few pu-erh’s I’ve tried that is not a mini toucha or a sample. There is nothing off putting about it, the liquor has a very dark red color, a strong aroma, and a bold, somewhat spicy, flavor.

Right now I have been using a little screw driver to break apart the tea, but soon I will have these tools from JK Teashop; I can’t wait to use the real thing!
http://www.jkteashop.com/simple-pu-er-cake-pick-needle-pick-solid-wood-with-yunnan-colorful-ropes-p-460.html
http://www.jkteashop.com/stainless-steel-pu-er-opener-with-cha-dao-curving-p-461.html

Preliminary review

I believe this is the first tea I bought from Taobao that I have reviewed.

I used my 150ml easy-pour gaiwan with about 5 -6 grams of dry tea. Small amount of Stevia added.

This morning I opened the package and brewed it up. So far (we have done two steepings) it is everything I was expecting in a fresh dianhong. The dry tea is beautiful (although there is more black in the tea leaves than in the pictures) and aromatic (the tea in the package was brimming with freshness and smelled a lot like a fresh spring green tea). The tea liquor is not only flavorful but my wife and I both agree it is very smooth; there is some subtle ‘thing’ missing in the flavor that I have experienced in most Chinese read teas, something best left out: it is as if the flavor is unencumbered and can move freely and effortlessly about to surprise and delight me at will (I hope to nail this down a little better later). The tea liquor has a gorgeous caramel color, and it looks to me to have an oily texture (just as the description mentions). Glancing at the wet leaves, they seem to be predominately, if not completely, buds.

I had such a positive experience with Tea it inspired me to write about it. I plan to write more sometime later.

This is definitely a tea worth sharing with others.

Oh, and I love the tin it came in (it’s different than the one on the website).

I steeped the remaining tea from the sample (about 5 grams) in my 150 ml gaiwan doing a wash and adding stevia on each steeping, water at boiling:
1st – 45 seconds
2nd – 75 seconds
3rd – 60 seconds
4th – about 90 seconds

I like the flavor. Somewhat cloudy orange-ish colored liquor, lots of little pieces of tea, no bitterness on the 1st steeping, but some on the 2nd (that’s why I backed off on the time on the third), none on the third, and just a little on the forth.

Managing the bitterness is the only downside here; I think this is a tea I could easily enjoy.

Until I get more of a reference point of what I like in a raw pu-erh, I am leaving off the numeric rating.

Brewing guidelines: Standard parameters when I brew ripened pu-erh in my 11 OZ Yixing.
……….15 – 20 second rinse with near boiling water, Stevia added thereafter.
……….1st: Near boiling, 0.5’
……….2nd: Boiling , 1’
……….3rd: Boiling , 1.5’
……….4th: Boiling, 2’
……….If 5th and/or more: Boiling, < If I do more than 4 steepings, I basically add 0.5’ for each. >

Overall: This was tea from a 14 gram sample from a pu-erh tea sampler I purchased at the end of 2013, and with each 14 gram sample I did two sessions each (cutting each roughly in half, or about 6-8 grams for each session), such that I did at least 4 steepings in each session.

As with all of the ripe samples I have been trying (probably about ten different ripe samples from a number of different vendors), this one tasted much like the rest: heavy, woodsy, with a flavor I enjoyed. This was a part of a cake, and I noticed even after the 4th or 5th steeping that much of the tea was still in a single ‘chunk’. This one seemed to maintain a dark color throughout the steepings, where most of the rest of the teas got substantially lighter by the 4th or 5th steeping. On the last steeping I did it for about 7 mins, and I noted that there was the slightest hint of bitterness in it (I didn’t put sweetener in it, and perhaps that is why).

One pattern that is emerging for me: on most days I seem to only have the time and energy for about 4 steepings, and those I usually do in conjunction while heating water for steeping another tea (usually a green tea). Perhaps sometime soon I will sit down and really pay attention to the flavors in all of these ripe pu-erh teas. I like to take things slowly.

Brewing guidelines: Standard parameters when I brew ripened pu-erh in my 11 OZ Yixing.
First I do a 15 – 20 second rinse with near boiling water. Then for each successive steeping I add Stevia to my 8 OZ clear-glass teacup (thus, typically not added to the teapot).
……….1st: Near boiling, 0.5’
……….2nd: Boiling , 1’
……….3rd: Boiling , 1.5’
……….4th: Boiling~(poured usually right after the previous steeping, so the teapot and water are as hot as possible)~, 2’ (if it’s the final steeping, then sometimes longer)
……….If 5th and/or more: Boiling, < If I do more than 4 steepings, I basically add 0.5’ for each. >

Overall: NOTE: I hope to ‘streamline’ my reviews going forward, so, hopefully, they are a little less technical and dry (and perhaps even stilted), and a little more organic and experiential (and hopefully, flowing); this somewhat new approach to reviews is a kind of metaphor for where my life is headed right now, and is one reason why I write reviews: as a kind of time-capsule of where I was in my life at that time.

This tea was a sample included in a pu-erh sampler pack I bought at the end of 2013. I have been brewing up lots of different ripe pu-erh teas over the last few months, usually over the weekends, steeping a different one each day in the hopes of determining which ones I like the most. I have not been as systematic about my overall analysis as I used to be (especially as I was with green teas); for example, mainly due the the time and effort involved I don’t compare/analyze the dry and wet tea leaf of ripe pu-erh as I have with other teas classes.

Although I am enjoying ripe pu-erh, somewhat sadly most all of the ripe pu-erh teas I have had basically taste the same to me (so far). I believe, over time, as my pallet gets more exposure to ripe pu-erh, the differences will make themselves known to me.

I finished the last of this yesterday, and all I really remember about this tea is that I liked the flavor a little more than the others. I don’t know, perhaps the word ‘Golden’ in the name is doing an unconscious ‘number’ on me. I don’t think so, though. The flavor seemed somewhat richer than the others, and the leaf was somewhat larger than the others. I will say this: I prefer the pu-erh with the larger leaf, if anything, because then it won’t slip through the holes at the end of my spout on my Yixing!

As I don’t really have a benchmark to measure from as of yet, I plan to leave off the rating on any pu-erh teas I review.