The weather today has been kinda great, nice and cool (for summer) and overcast, sadly I did spend most the day sleeping, so I missed out on it. But when I woke up in the afternoon I was so happy to not be a melted pile of sadness! So in honor of the weather being nice, I decided to have some tea outside, and Ben decided to take pictures of me, really I wanted a new photo of myself for my various profiles, and I wanted it to be tea themed so it worked out perfectly.
Today on ye old tea blog, I am taking a look at another offering from Wymm Tea, specifically their Mahei Zhai Sheng Pu-erh From Ancient Tea Tree 2011 Spring, a Sheng Puerh from 2011. This tea is from the Mahei Village in the Yiwu Mountain of Xishuangbanna, one of largest of the tea producing mountains of Yunnan. The name Yiwu means The Habitat of Beautiful Snake Deity in the local Dai language, and I find myself wondering if they meant Nuwa, the ancient creator of mankind. The aroma of the leaves is quite aromatic and enjoyable, blending my much loves favorite note of camphor with sweet honey, broken vegetation, and a distinct anise-like note of lotus blossoms. I admit, I was not expecting that from a Puerh, but I am certainly not complaining, I love lotus blossoms. There is also a hint of woodiness and a tiny, delicate, apricot note at the finish.
Into the tiny shui ping the leaves go, for a short rinse and short steep. The now wet leaves only have a tiny hint of anise, instead it is intense wet hay and pungent camphor, sweet apricot, and a finish of wet bamboo. The liquid is sweet and wet, combining damp wood, soggy hay, and moist bamboo with a definite finish of apricot and honey. There is a delicate whiff of anise that is almost indiscernible, like the dream of anise.
First steeping time! Ah, now this is a first steep right after me own heart! It starts out light and smooth, with a surprisingly thick mouthfeel for a first steep. The taste begins with delicate sweetness of apricots and lotus, the lotus is super delicate but most certainly present. It then moves on to wet hay and a touch of mushrooms, with a finish of bamboo shoots and spinach. The aftertaste is a lingering lotus blossom sweetness.
Second steeping has the aroma of so much camphor! It is like an old cedar chest, woody and cooling, but with an apricot and bamboo accompaniment. Tasting the tea is smooth, that mouthfeel is still thick and soupy, but not much changed. The taste is primarily camphor and wet, sweet hay, very cooling and sweet. This blends with a finish of apricot and bamboo at the finish, with a delicate lotus finish.
For the final steep, the aroma is so refreshing, I almost wish that when I wrote my tasting notes for this tea it would have been a hot day, because the notes of camphor are very cooling. They are joined with delicate apricots and bamboo shoots, and a tiny hint of hay at the finish. Very smooth is the mouthfeel, not quite as thick, but still pretty soupy. The taste is again, primarily camphor and sweet hay, with a tiny hint of apricots and loam. The finish has a slight bitter kale like note, but this fades to lotus blossom pretty quickly. Sadly, this really is the final steep, where I end my reviews at three steeps, I tend to go further with them, and with Puerhs I usually add a very short summary of the other steeps. Shortly after this steep I was slammed with an ungodly stomach bug, not sure if it was food poisoning or what, but I was in no shape for drinking tea…believe me, I tried. So, I did not get to push this Sheng to its limits, I would love to get more because what I did try I really enjoyed.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/wymm-tea-mahei-zhai-sheng-pu-erh-from.html
