2019 Yunnan Sourcing "Da Qing Gu Shu" Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

Prepared in my Jian Shui gaiwan, and served in my porcelain tea cup via my glass cha hai. Filtered Santa Monica municipal water just off the boil throughout.

I have limited experience with sheng, but I’ll share my untutored impressions:

Early infusions result in arylide liquor with a gentle mineral/grassy aroma, a similarly subtle flavor, with hints of burdock and toasted seaweed in the finish which leads to a distinct hui gan. Vegetal/woody elements (along with hints of menthol, weeds, and wildflowers) and thickness of mouth-feel increase as the leaves unfurl and infusions are extended past 10 – 15 seconds. Astringency emerges, though bitterness is low (at first). Somewhere between 7 and 10 infusions, I suddenly found it difficult to steep long enough to extract flavor without that initially mild bitterness supplanting any other notes; so my sessions with this tea ended fairly abruptly (as will this review).

Yesterday I wrote and quickly deleted a note on the wrong tea, that tea being Da Qing Zhai, a Bangdong area tea which I’m sure is quite good as well. Scott says this is his favorite tea this year. This recommendation along with a 12% off sale combined with the fact that every 2019 Jinggu area tea I’ve tried has been excellent I opted to blind cake this. Glad I did. This is an awesome and unique tea. This stuff is oily thick, slightly sweet and tastes like dandelions, not the greens (although I’ve had several TGY with that note) but the flowers. If you’ve never steeped or fried dandelion flowers I highly recommend it. Sorta like chamomile but different. There is just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness. A spicy backdrop is notable in early steeps and a little woody mint emerges in later steeps but dandelion is the main flavor throughout. A great springtime tea but I’m not sure the flavor alone would have me digging into this tea regularly. It’s the natural feeling euphoric qi that won me over. Some sheng gets you hyper. Some is drowsing. Some is stoning. This stuff for me is liquid courage. It feels like a runners high. Alert yet relaxed and confident. The perfect thing to drink before a daunting day at work. I’ve drunk this on several occasions with similar effect. It’s whitewater season in Pennsylvania and I’ve found that this is also a great tea to drink before paddling. Being as smooth and floral (but not perfumey like a Jingmai thank God) I wonder how this tea will age. At the rate I’m attacking this bing I don’t think I need to worry…