2006 Nannuo Bama

It’s raining here in St. Louis. It’s been raining all day. That makes it a perfect day for tea, right? Not to say that every day isn’t a perfect day for tea, because really, I drink tea all day every day. But something about a damp rainy day that is somewhat cool, like today, puts me in the mood for making a pot of soup & long tea sipping sessions. And so, I continue on my quest to sample all of the Life in Teacup samples that have been loitering in my shelves, waiting for their opportunities to shine.
My formula = 7G + 120ml yixing
I kept it real short at first, like maybe 5 – 7 seconds?
quick rinse
The first steep – interesting milky kind of feeling, nice and smooth, even reminded me of the taste of milk somehow
2. tangy green plum, hinting at sweet, but not really.
3. More green plum, but also a bitter note on the back of the tongue, which will hopefully pass, because there is bitter, and then there is Bitter, and its the later of the two.

I continued on through several more steepings, but quit counting. The bitterness became a little tingly as well, kind of like Hops, with a nice ‘green’ taste.
That milky quality came back, but more of a feel than a flavor.
It never did really get sweet. The plum idea went away and was replaced with more of a persimmon dryness.
That’s all I’ve got.
Enjoy the weekend, everybody!

Starts out a little bitter, but clears up at around 3 infusions in my gaiwan. From there, it’s a pleasant, woody, spicy brew until it loses strength (after about two large mugs’ worth, normally). Hay and dried dark fruits are also present. One of the first puerhs I’ve had in what will hopefully be a long and pleasant journey. Nice qi, very active and energetic, but still calming.

Got this with a sampler from Life in Teacup. It has strong notes of fruit, with some woody mushroom flavors, and a slick mouthfeel. I steeped this rather heavily and found it thick. I agree with JC that it tastes a bit of humid storage, but not overly so. I found it pleasant.

EDIT because I found I typo

Dry – Wood and earth notes, some thin sweetness.
Wet – Wet wood notes, some faint sweetness, faded floral.
Liquor – Dark Amber

1st 7secs – Woody, damp floor, musky and some savory notes up front. As it goes down, it has some hints of sweetness but doesn’t quite delivers much, it feels thin and somewhat flat.

2nd 7secs – Cleaner woody, damp floor and some savory ‘mushroom’ notes up front; it feels cleaner but still not that pleasant. As it goes down, it has some more sweetness, but again it is flat although over some time there’s a faint floral note.

3rd 10secs – Same body up front and going down, the finish is slightly better, but still nothing I’d look for in a Nannuo cake.

Final Notes
This cake had to be stored in wetter conditions, it has lost much of the Nannuo character for its age and it feels rather flat, while I expected something sweeter, floral and thick with some age taste. It is a good tea if you like those wetter notes with out overly aggressive notes of really humid storage.

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