I am working at doing these reviews a little more imperfectly, because otherwise it will take me FOREVER to review all of the teas I want to review.
I got this as a sample from a friend: thank you!
I am glad I had an opportunity to compare this tea to early spring 2014 Yunnan Sourcing (YS) “Sun-Dried Buds” Wild Pu-erh tea varietal I have brewed up a number of times so far.
This tea was harvested in the late winter/early spring of 2011.
The dry tea is very similar in appearance and aroma to the 2014 YS tea varietal: largish green and white cluster-like buds, with light-brown edges, with the exception that there were no brown twigs (as there was with the YS version), and the Mandala version was not quite as green-ish in color as the YS version (not surprising as the Mandela version is three years older). There was very little aroma in the dry tea buds, but not much less than the 2014 YS tea varietal.
I used my ceramic 180 ml blue and white gaiwan, Stevia, approximately 7 grams of tea buds, 7 OZ water.
I started at about 175, 1’ and increased the temp a bit and added a minute, for each successive steeping, and so far I got the 5 steepings.
The tea liquor has a very light, clear yellowish-green color; it has a very similar aroma to the 2014 YS tea varietal: reminiscent of a forest. The flavor is sweet, spicy, somewhat fresh, with a hint of pine needles.
To me, in many respects this is like a white tea in terms of delicate flavor, sweetness, and freshness. But because this tea is technically a pu-erh, my understanding is that it should mellow with age (rather then going bad after a year or two), and to me that gives it a HUGE advantage over any typical white tea. Although this tea does not come across as fresh as the 2014 YS tea varietal (which I expected), overall, I am impressed that this 2011 version of wild Yabao tea buds seems to be able to stand its ground when going up against a much fresher version. It seems to have as much flavor, aroma, and staying power over multiple steepings as did the 2014 YS tea varietal. This tea is considerably more expensive the the YS version, but at least I know this one stands up well after three years.
Flavors: Pine, Spicy
Preparation
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Awesome, I have been thinking about getting this tea, and your review is spot on to what I would want to know. Do you think since it is supposed to be more like puerh it would hold up to hotter temps, or would the flavor be destroyed? I don’t have any experience with dried buds done in this fashion.
Fun to see how this tea ages. When I get a fresh crop of it, I leave it sealed for the 1st year of its life. After that, I store in open containers in our pu’er tea vault and let them age with the rest of the pu’er. I learned that storage technique when I was in Kunming back in 2008. Neat to taste and smell the differences as the tea ages. And yes, the green freshness does change. But it turns into something deeper, with more caramel like sweetness rather than the green sweetness. At least that’s what I get with the aging.
Dang… tea is a blast!
Cwyn: I glad the review seemed helpful. Before I brewd this up, I looked at a number of reviews of wild Yabao tea bud varietals; I didn’t find lots of detail on how best to brew it (Mandala’s website states to start at 175 F for one minute, and then go up from there). Previously, I treated the YS tea varietal more or less as a white tea, brewing it very similar to Mandala’s website recommendation; if I remember correctly, I think I went fairly hot on the last steepings (190+), and still got flavor out of it. It seems this type of tea is pretty amazing in terms of how many steeping I can get out of it, and in how resilient it is to stepping temps. Perhaps someone else can speak to how well it handles near boiling temps?
Garret: I was actually wondering if this tea should be stored as any other pu-erh, and it turns out in your comment you already answered that question for me!
Still, I do have another related question: I am guessing this is raw pu-erh, as it sounds like there is no ‘accelerated fermentation’ (or whatever the term is when cooked pu-erh tea is processed) done with this tea? I want to know, so I know which types of pu-erh (cooked or raw) to store the wild Yabao buds with.
I did 6th steeping at near boiling, and a 7th at boiling (after the tea sat out all night) and there was still discernible flavor along with good aroma. So, yes, I believe this tea can handle boiling temps.
Awesome, I have been thinking about getting this tea, and your review is spot on to what I would want to know. Do you think since it is supposed to be more like puerh it would hold up to hotter temps, or would the flavor be destroyed? I don’t have any experience with dried buds done in this fashion.
Fun to see how this tea ages. When I get a fresh crop of it, I leave it sealed for the 1st year of its life. After that, I store in open containers in our pu’er tea vault and let them age with the rest of the pu’er. I learned that storage technique when I was in Kunming back in 2008. Neat to taste and smell the differences as the tea ages. And yes, the green freshness does change. But it turns into something deeper, with more caramel like sweetness rather than the green sweetness. At least that’s what I get with the aging.
Dang… tea is a blast!
Cwyn: I glad the review seemed helpful. Before I brewd this up, I looked at a number of reviews of wild Yabao tea bud varietals; I didn’t find lots of detail on how best to brew it (Mandala’s website states to start at 175 F for one minute, and then go up from there). Previously, I treated the YS tea varietal more or less as a white tea, brewing it very similar to Mandala’s website recommendation; if I remember correctly, I think I went fairly hot on the last steepings (190+), and still got flavor out of it. It seems this type of tea is pretty amazing in terms of how many steeping I can get out of it, and in how resilient it is to stepping temps. Perhaps someone else can speak to how well it handles near boiling temps?
Garret: I was actually wondering if this tea should be stored as any other pu-erh, and it turns out in your comment you already answered that question for me!
Still, I do have another related question: I am guessing this is raw pu-erh, as it sounds like there is no ‘accelerated fermentation’ (or whatever the term is when cooked pu-erh tea is processed) done with this tea? I want to know, so I know which types of pu-erh (cooked or raw) to store the wild Yabao buds with.
I did 6th steeping at near boiling, and a 7th at boiling (after the tea sat out all night) and there was still discernible flavor along with good aroma. So, yes, I believe this tea can handle boiling temps.