2015 Yunnan Sourcing Da Hu Sai Raw Pu-erh

I really enjoyed this sheng. Definitely bitter/astringent at the beginning but that ebbs a bit into a lingering sweetness via strong huigan. There is a touch of citrus in the flavor I think with a very nice floral/fruity aroma. The mouthfeel of this tea is awesome. The bitterness works on the saliva glands and really gets things going. It has a thick body and really hit the spot for me this morning. There are also some elements of cooling/herbal sensations from the tea. I’m thinking about getting a cake of this. I think it will be interesting to try over time.

I’ve decided to stop ‘rating’ teas with numbers since they mean nothing to anyone but me. It’s hard to review teas during periods of irregular weather. This one is no exception. It was only after trying this tea 4 times using both a gaiwan and yixing over a week after it arrived was I able to pick out its true character.

Dried leaves smell like sweet grass while wet leaves are floral and musky. They are largely intact, veiny, large, and very green. Initial steeps are straight up bitterness with some hints of high floral notes, and vegetal notes of grilled asparagus and raw brussel sprouts. This is a powerful tea. Strong energy up front that eventually calms down going into the 5th brew. Nice mouth feel, superb huigan, and very persistent aftertaste. It’s obvious this will age into something interesting.

In mid-steeps, the bitterness while still there gradually is replaced by thick sweetness—the brown sugar type. The tea remains thick, textured, sweet-medicinal and vegetal until it finally gives out—by then I’ve lost count of steeps. This of course varies according to your brewing parameters.

I’ve gotten spoiled with some of the amazing young shengs out there that do not have much (or none at all) bitterness.

I decided to try this one this morning before work instead of my usual green tea. It was just too much bitterness to me. Yes a bit of fruity apricot but I couldn’t get past the bitterness. I imagine it probably would have gotten better after quite a few steeps but I didn’t have time this morning. I usually don’t have an untried tea as my first cup and on this day I was disappointed I did. The first cup of the day has to be one I love.

Starting out, the dry leaf had a strong dried apricot aroma, which turned into sweet hay once wet. The soup transitioned from baking spices to a muted cedar aroma before plateauing with a buttery baked pear flavor. There was a spike of bitterness around steep four, but that quickly disappeared and left a syrupy and gentle infusion. I really enjoyed this teas flavors and was happy to take it to 15 steeps before it trailed off.

First note for this tea!

I did some gong-fu steeping for this last night: 6g, 130mL gaiwan, 90C water, 5-second rinse.

The flavour and smell were pretty typical for a young sheng – tart, fruity, a bit smoky. I noticed that this had some bitterness in the first few steeps, but it was a sharp, thin bitterness, rather than the kind of juicy bitterness with a fruity aftertaste that I noticed in the Gu Shu from a few days ago. I prefer the Gu Shu kind of bitterness a lot more.