Year of the Monkey 2016 Spring Yiwu Raw Puer

First tea I’m trying out of my big Bitterleaf order. Probably the best Yiwu I’ve had (though I have not done much exploration of that region yet). Now that I’ve ordered 2016 teas from White2Tea, Bitterleaf, and Crimson Lotus, I think I’ll finally be able to lay off ordering for a while. I brewed some of this baby up in my Jianshui teapot – 6.6g to 100mL.

This tea is pretty consistently sweet and soft from start to finish. I got some honey and mineral notes for the sweetness. Often those kind of came together and reminded me an awful lot of graham crackers. I didn’t note any astringency, which is nice for such young puerh. In a couple of the middle steeps I sometimes got just a slight sour finish. Every once in a while that sourness took on a bit of a fruity character, but I could have just been imagining that. The body is pretty good, but not amazing. In the first half of the session, it has a bit of a buttery taste/texture as well, which I really enjoyed. Not thick and oily, but kind of silky. The tea starts to die off around 10 or 11 steeps, so pretty standard longevity. I noticed a bit of a buzzy feeling building in my upper body towards the end of this session, so I’d characterize the tea as having a gentle, slowly building qi.

Glad I get to try Bitterleaf’s tea, and if this cake (and Diamond Cutter, which I’ve already had) is any indication, there’s going to be some really good stuff in my box from them. At the current price, this cake is a hell of a deal, and I could definitely see myself picking one up next time I make a Bitterleaf order.

I was going to let this tea settle, but the aroma pulled me in. This tea is fragrant! The cake gives off an enticing scent of honey, warm wood, steamed greens, and heavy floral tones. I really was caught up on it. I broke off a chunk and prepared my yixing for brewing. I placed the leaf inside and allowed it to warm up. After a few shakes, I lift the lid, and I’m again enthralled by the aroma. A heavily candied texture rises into the air. I catch thick aromas of honey, wispy lilies, and caramel. I can taste a slight burnt sugar tone steaming from the pot. I imagine sugarcane, buckwheat honey, and pancakes…bliss. I wash the leaves once and prepare for brewing. Now, this tea was not bad at all, but the ’scent’sational foreplay may have gotten me a little too over-excited. The cuppa began as fresh and inviting with some lemon zest and sugarcane at the forefront. The brew soothed into a candy-like sweetness. I described the sweetness as alpine fresh, like mountain spring water, in my notes. This brew is very calm and holds only a slight bitterness. The huigan was very light and almost hard to spot. The qi began as a cooling sensation and gave slight ripples outwards from the chest. The soothing qualities were alike menthol. I enjoyed this tea, but it was very soft and very calm. Almost too calm, in my opinion. I prefer a tea with a strong back bone and some character. This is a definite crowd-pleaser, and I highly recommend it for the new puerh drinkers who wanna dip a toe in the icy sheng waters, but it is not something I would seek out. Now the scent, that’s something I could sit and sniff forever!

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From PTTB-5. Thanks for the donation.

I set aside samples of the three Bitterleaf teas before mailing out the box. I needed a treat tonight so decided to try one. I was a bit nervous due to the name: I’m not a fan of bitter tea. Turns out I didn’t need to worry.

Here I screwed up. I got distracted, so my 4th steep lasted 2 minutes. I was surprised that it was drinkable: It had a much darker color. Very woody, but only slightly bitter. Surprisingly drinkable! The 5th steep was the biggest surprise. Despite my brutality on the previous steep the tea was sweet and smooth, with pretty good mouth-feel and complexity. Still quite fruity. At this point I’ve gotten 15 ounces of tea out of a 3 gram sample (including the over-steep), but the tea is still going strong.

My overall impression is that this is a tea that is very approachable in its youth, but has reasonable complexity and the sort of good texture in the mouth that I’d expect from a quality Yiwu.

4g in 60ml porcelain gaiwan. compression on the tighter side. lots of big leaf pieces.
starts off sweet, then other flavours join in. some minty feeling in back of mouth after the sip. liquid itself has a nice smooth sweet mouthfeel.

it’s a workday, so my session is not full of detailed notes; however, i find it a pleasant tea, gloriously (to me) sweet with a gentle complexity that comes in. i am liking it a great deal.