2015 Yunnan Sourcing "Tian Tang Cao" Ripe Pu-erh tea and Jiaogula

Thank you, Meowster!  Still delving into these teas.  Though this is described as ripe, if I didn’t know it was a ripe, looking at the leaves, I’d be questioning it.  Some of the leaves have a greenish tint to them, so I would guess that it’s a ripe mixed with raw… and not sure if any puerh producers actually do that or why they would WANT to do that.  The flavors would be so different, it’s like they would be battling each other.  But I think this is ripe.  The steeped leaves have a very bready fragrance.  The flavor is a bit on the lighter side, but I didn’t steep very long on that first steep just in case this was partially raw.  The flavor is almost like a sticky rice flavored puerh also with a boozy rum flavor at the end of the sip, which is new, and maybe coffee. The second steep is very smooth and leans more towards the typical PUERH flavor.  I think I’m hyping this puerh up…  All of the steeps had that boozy rum flavor throughout, which is definitely unique to this.  I wonder if it was whatever that greener leaf was… that I also have never seen in ripe puerh before.  Otherwise,  these steeps were amazingly consistent in flavor!
Steep #1 // 22 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 minute steep
Steep #4 // just boiled // 10 minute steep
2021 sipdowns: 87

This tea is very interesting. Combining a powerful adaptogenic herb with puer. Scott is really onto something here. The body high is very nice – calming and stimulating at the same time. Taste is mainly of puer (ripe), but there are tones of ginseng/anise flavor of the jiaogulan (immortality herb). As a side-note, Jiaogulan herb has about 4 times the number of adaptogenic compounds (saponides) as does ginseng.

I’ve tried this tea few days ago, but I didn’t write the review while drinking it. Since I had tasted a few teas since then, I decided to return to this tea for another session, so that I may have proper review of the tea.

I must say that the tea gives off a huge seaweed aroma, but the flavor is quite different. Yes, there’s a slight mineral flavor to the tea, but there are the “pu-erh” flavors (earthy, mossy, “muddy,” etc) hanging about, too; although, these flavors are subtle, and not overpowering.

The mouth-feel is nice. It’s a smooth tea that goes to the back of the throat gently. There is no sign of astringency with this tea. It’s a rich and smooth tea, that I plan on drinking again.

I started with a 15 second rinse to wake the leaves. However, after that, I began to steep the tea for 20 seconds, and added 5 seconds to each steep after that. I’m on number 5 thus far, and plan on getting 10-12 more steeps out of this.

A very smooth oily soup with the camphor flavors of the shou and the intense sweet and cooling mouthfeel of the Jiaogulan. To me this tea had a very calming and revitalizing body feel that I really enjoy!

I received my box of ripe pu erh goodies today from the recent YS sale. One thing I purchased was this mini cake. It was well sealed in its own little envelope, so I immediately tried it even though it did not get a chance to rest and air out. This ripe pu erh is made with jiangulan, an herb I had never heard of. I think it’s kind of like ginseng, at least that’s how it tastes (Yang-chu, help me out here!). This is a really good tea for what it is. The ripe tea is of solid quality, and the herb makes it minty fresh, like ginseng. It’s quite unusual, and worth a try if you are adventurous. And it has a great little wrapper…