Wednesday, December 10, 2008

2008 Big Leaf Bingdao Sheng Pu-erh Tea Cake


I just received this cake in the mail today from PuerhShop.com. As always, the vendor’s packaging was excellent and shipping time very good (it only two days to arrive!).


I was met with the sent of young sheng the moment I opened the wrapper.


The cake was visually stunning, having hairy leaves with an oily gloss, and the compression very loose, just as I like. In fact, the compression was so loose that I could pull individual leaves from the cake with little effort.


The brew ranged from an attractive yellow-gold to a burnished orange-yellow in later infusions. Interestingly, the gaiwan lid smelled of vibrant young puerh with the essence of saw-grass and notes of cigarette in the background. The aroma cup carried a more straight forward puerh sent, leaving behind the pleasant scent of saw-grass that I had detected earlier.


The first five infusion I brewed for a very short amount of time. The tea yielded a sweet, mouth watering liquor tasting tropical with a lingering after taste void of any harsh bitterness. In later infusions the taste changed dramatically to sandal-wood and mushroom with plenty of pleasant sourness that left the tongue wanting more.


The wet leaves were huge; it is no wonder that they continued to give up cup after cup of liquor for over twenty infusions! They were bigger than those of any tea I currently own. Just look how tiny this quarter appears next to them!

-Dissonance

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