Huang Shan Mu Dan

This chinese green tea was harvested this spring. Mu Dan means that the leaves were assembled by hand in order to give them a specific shape: similar to a flower, for instance. At first sight, my Huang Shan here reminded me both of a flower and of a sea urchin. OK with the flower but... well... let's say that my unconscious mind was a bit uneasy with the sea urchin image...

Being serious now, what really made me a bit reluctant at the beginning was the intense smoky vegetable aromas it emanated. I'm not - or at least I wasn't - very fond of such combination. The good thing is that I was positively surprised.

Let me give you some details about it.

I infused this tea 4 times in a small porcelain gaiwan (10 cl). I used filtered water (Brita) at 75° C, and the brewing time was rather long, as you will see.

Here's my tasting notes.

First infusion, 4' :  Amazing aromatic profile! Cooked cabbage and extremely smoky note were dominant and very persistent. The smoky note was not far from a strong lapsang souchong. Some light aromas developed at the end: first a caramelized one, then licorice root associated to the initial aromas (cabbage and smoky) which were lighter at that stage. 

Second infusion, 4' :  The cabbage and smoky aromas were dominant, even if not as strong as previously. Harmonious profile: those two aromas were associated to flowery ones, but I couldn't say precisely what flowers. Licorice note at the end.

Cabbage and smoky quite persistent.

Third infusion, 4' 50'' : Same thing, except that licorice root got stronger and longer in mouth.

Fourth infusion, 5' 20'' : Cabbage and smoky aromas were still there but getting more and more lighter. Sweet flavour. A new vanilla note developed combined with the licorice one. They were both quite persistent.

Fifth infusion, 4' 20'' : Sweet flavour. Sugar and licorice notes were dominant. Very refreshing at this stage.

Sixth and last infusion, 4' 50'' : Everything had vanished. Only a sweet global impression remained.

What can I say...? My initial reluctancy was completely un-jus-tified!

Gosh! This tea offered me exactly what I appreciate the most: strong contrast, variety, good length in mouth, clear succession of notes. And it was so refreshing at the end...! It was definitely a great tasting.

If you tasted it as well, and if you feel like sharing your views about it, please do drop some lines on the Comments. I'll be interested and I'm sure other people will be interested too.

Raw Puerh Jiang Cheng (1989)

I was very curious about this Puerh I bought to Stephane from Tea Masters. This was the first time that I tasted a raw Pu Erh and such an aged one. I searched for brewing parameters in the web before preparing it, and I did found some useful information. You might want to have a look on it as well. As you'll see I had three possible guidelines to my own Gong Fu Cha.

Firstly, I found a couple of parameters, tasting notes and impressions - in french.

They both tasted their raw Puerh (which was from 1990) in 2005.

Stephane suggested some variations himself (check the link).

J-C Maitre's parameters : 

15 cl yixing, quick rinse and then 6 infusions : 

20'' / 30'' / 30'' / 40'' / 40'' / ??

Lionel's parameters : 

2,5 - 3 g in 10 cl, quick rinse, 8 infusions : 

15'' / less than 15'' / 20'' / ?? / 30'' / 1' / 5' / 3'

Then I found some more information - this time in english.

Geraldo's parameters:

5 g in 15 cl (glass gaiwan), quick rinse, 5' of rest and then 5 infusions: 

15'' / 15'' / 25'' / 33'' / 52''

Geraldo's tasting notes are very detailed. He tasted his 1990 Puerh in 2005 as J-C Maitre and Lionel did.

I prepared my raw Puerh in a yixing teapot, more precisely the zisha Shui Pin Hou, by infusing 4 g of tea in 16 cl of filtered water (Brita) at 95°C. After a quick rinse I made 7 infusions. I stoped each infusion when the little drop on the edge of the spout got inside the teapot. Here's what I tasted.

Short rinse (well... I just couldn't sacrifice it...) : sweet and oily, I could feel that a wide variety of aromas was about to develop (earthy and undergrowth notes: damp soil, damp wood, damp leaves, humus), great freshness.

First infusion, 50'' : Great roundness and fullness, even more thick and oily texture. The earthy and undergrowth notes became stronger and then evolved towards something like burnt wood and humid earth you can smell at the end of the day in the countryside. When cold, this liquor became really - really - sweet (something close to licorice root) and fresh (almost the pine's freshness).

Second one, 40'' : Same thick oily texture. Round, very sweet and fresh. Earthy and undergrowth aromas were dominant and very sustained.

Third, 46'' : Liquor a bit less unctuous and slightly astringent. My mouth became dry and I started to feel slightly thirsty. Some changes among the aromas (damp soil grew stronger, then licorice root and pink pepper developed).

The day after at noon...

Fourth, 52'' : Liquor not that sweet nor thick, but still quite oily. Earthy and undergrowth aromas (similar to the first infusion). Light brown liquor.

Fifth, 1' ... '' : Sweetness vanished, but the texture remained a bit oily. Same damp earth, damp wood aromas, and once again the smoky, burnt wood note. Slight global astringency (dried mouth again). Very pleasant warmth in the throat.

Sixth, 4' 12'' : I tasted it cold. Very sweet liquor once again, but barely oily. Astringency grew stronger at the end. All the aromas vanished.

Seventh and last infusion, 6' 45'' : Dark brown liquor. No more aromas left. Global astringency (dried mouth and throat).

I was pretty amazed by the intense aromas and the texture of the five first infusions. I had the feeling I was somewhere in the heart of the woods, let's say early in the morning or perhaps at the end of the day, in autumn. Great feeling. Very nice tea!

Later on, I found another article in english which provides more information about this raw Puerh.

Wojciech's parameters:

5 g in 13 cl (gaiwan porcelain), quick rinse, 7 infusions : 

40'' / 25'' / 35'' / ... / 22'

I hope all this information gathering was useful to you.

Please feel free to drop a question or a comment.