Norbu Tea

O hai, Steepsterites.

Being chilly is an excellent excuse for trying out new tea, isn’t it? We’re having true april weather here at the moment. Warm and sunny for two days and then some more cold and hard wind. April is always a bit of a gamble when something out-doors-y is arranged. (Guess what we’re doing on saturday…)

This one was a semi-random pick in the sample basket. I knew I wanted either something black or something darkish oolong and something Chinese. As luck would have it, this was the first thing I pulled out, so I stuck with that.

I didn’t really get much out of the aroma of the dry leaf, but after steeping it’s very smooth and rounded. There’s a heavy honey-like sweetness in it, and a thick note of grainy rye bread-ness. The spicyness that one typically finds in Yunnans doesn’t seem to be present in the aroma very much. It’s there, but it’s being completely dominated by the other two. And yet, somehow, the aroma of this one strikes me as fairly typical for the region. Rather sweeter maybe, but otherwise quite recognisable.

It’s very sweet in flavour as well. The honey note is strong and the spicy pepper-y note doesn’t show up until at the very end of the sip. The note of grain that was present in the aroma hasn’t really made it into the flavour.

Again, a typical sort of Yunnan flavour. Honey sweet with prickly spicy pepper and an overall set of flavour characteristics that sort of remind me of horses eating hay. To bring my tendency to associate certain flavours with certain colours, this has a warm, darkish yellow sort of flavour. Almost golden, but not quite.

I’m not sure how to rate this though. Yunnans aren’t generally my super-favourite type ever, although I retain a healthy dose of curiosity about them. They’re a bit touch and go for me. I either really like it or I find it tolerably good. And any Yunnan can swing back and forth between the two depending on what sort of mood I’m in. So if my average on Yunnan’s are generally a bit all over the place, this would be the explanation.

Finally, yesterday, I bought a gaiwan! I had to do some shopping at the Asian grocer (Vietnamese food tonight!) and I peeked around in the tea area. I fell in love with a cute little blue and white gaiwan and snapped it up. Also, during this time, I bought some teas on TeaTrade from LiberTeas and Rachanac. (Thank you, both!) This tea is from LiberTeas.

I chose this one because of the mellow, leafy scent in the packet. I was hoping for just a nice, mellow cup this morning. So, I heated the water to 195 and took the gaiwan on it’s inaugural steep. 30 sec. I burned the heck out of my fingers when decanting it. Then, I couldn’t wait to try it and took a sip. Too hot. So, I transferred it to another cup and started the second steep while I waited for the first to cool. 45 sec. Ouch. Burned my fingers again. I decanted it and went back to the first cup, which had cooled considerably by that time. Mmm… it smells very, very light. I can taste a faint toastiness, very slightly floral (less than I had hoped.) It’s good and mellow, as I had hoped. Okay, on to steep two… I take a sip… and burn the heck out of my tongue and upper lip. (Forgot to transfer to another cooler cup.) Now, I’m hurting and irritated. My fingers are turning red and my lip isn’t far behind. (Did I mention that I need to go for passport photos today? Grr…) The second steep is better, the leaves have opened more, slightly more floral, although the taste is still really light. I think I’ll go for a full minute or two on the next steep and see if I can bump up the flavor again. My lips, tongue and fingers, however, are all screaming no more. Hrmph. Hopefully the next go won’t be so painful.

Update: I accidentally got caught up reading some tea reviews and let it steep for six minutes. It’s amazing! (And cooled down, too.) :) The floral flavor and aroma are both fully developed. I’m picking up a lilac scent and taste in my mouth. The tea feels as if it has more body to it, too, and is much less watery. Maybe I will keep this cute little gaiwan after all…

Norbu gives this tea the nickname of “lemony pu-erh”, and for good reason. Of the four infusions I did with this, flavors ranged from lemongrass, to lemon verbena, to wild white tea. Citrusy, nutty, rice-like, and with a floral finish. It doesn’t quite surpass the majesty of Nan Nuo Shan shengs, but it’s just about become my second favorite. And for an ’05, the price was rather reasonable.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/18/review-norbu-tea-2005-ye-sheng-wild-tea-log/

I got a sample of this with an order a while back and was surprised to realized I hadn’t logged it. I think Greg’s description gives a good sense of this tea—nutty and toasty, sweet and grassy, oddly Dragon Well-like. and definitely a potential for bitterness so I keep it cool. Tonight brewing in a medium gaiwan, about 100mL per infusion, with about 3 grams of tea, first infusion at 30 seconds was delicious. Mmm. I generally like my 2nd infusions of green teas to be very short, because the freshly wetted leaves seem primed to let bitter elements out quickly if I don’t, but on this one tonight I was careless, and went more than minute for the second infusion—often a recipe for a wasted infusion. This one was a touch unpleasant at first sip, but a 50% dilution with more hot water and voila, back to the lovely tea I remember. Nice flexible tea.

A previous gongfu session went about 6 infusions before I lost the good tastes and started over with the rest of the sample.

Can’t believe I haven’t added a tasting note for this tea yet. I have been drinking a lot of TGYs, from Anxi and from Taiwan, when I crave a deeply-roasted oolong, but today only DHP would do. Sweet, earthy, fruity, mysterious, perfect. Ahhh.

This is the third maocha I’ve tried from Norbu. I really liked one, found the other fair-go-good, and now it was on to an older one. Philosophically, I found it puzzling that they aged an unfinished pu-erh. Wouldn’t it make more sense just to turn it into a pu-erh and age it then? Eh, I’m nitpicking. The dry scent was off-putting, but the finished brew-up (Western-style but in a gaiwan) turned up an earthy, faintly fruity, and smoky cup. Like an oolong that’d been blended with a sheng. I still prefer younger maochas – like the Nan Nuo I had – but this was still a pleasure to sip.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/19/review-norbu-tea-2007-spring-yong-de-mao-cha/

This was the third Asamushi-style sencha I tried from Norbu. I didn’t know much about the leaf cultivar going into it, but it possessed a wonderfully vanilla scent to the dry leaves. That same characteristic also translated to the liquor’s taste. I never call sencha creamy, but this definitely was on the foretaste with a strong fruit note. My heart still belongs to guricha and Fukamushi-style senchas, but this ranks well up there.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/16/review-norbu-tea-2010-spring-yamakai-sencha/

I was first a little turned off by the aroma of this. It reminded me of poor-grade bancha. I’m…not a fan of bancha. The medium-cut, mediam-green leaves smelled like roasted nuts. Luckily, this only partially translated to the taste thanks to a surprising buttery note. However, it’s just a shy skip above ordinary sencha.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/13/review-norbu-tea-2010-spring-hon-yama-zairai-sencha/

Another day, another fine brewing. This is a mellow, forgiving, earthy tea, hints of chocolate and plum, but the heart of it is sweet rich freshly turned damp earth. This really does taste like dirt but in the best way. Mmmm. A small dense chunk of tea (and with this mellow super compressed stuff, I don’t worry too much about breaking leaves as I remove a chunk from the brick) has yielded a liter or tea, and I’m sure I could easily get another half liter if I wanted to, but I think my fickle taste buds are going to be checking out something else before these leaves are really done—and in this location, I don’t have the ability to save leaves and keep infusing again later. Sigh.

As usual when I brew this tea, I don’t have detailed notes on exact quantities of tea, infusion timing, because it is mellow and forgiving, and I don’t have to pay that much attention. I brewed up a thermos full of it and have been enjoying all day. It is not as plummy/fruity as the Lao Cha Tou that I also got from Norbu, but is sweet, subtly earthy, reminding me of the floor of a redwood forest after rain. It’s a tea that easily pleases.

this has been one norbu’s top selling teas for a long time….its good,its cheap and its not your typical sheng because of the bamboo roasting….

This is a regular sencha with a complicated name. Make that, a regular “rough” sencha somewhat mimicking the “aracha”-style of green tea. The leaves were long, reedy, and not quite as uniform as ordinary refined sencha. In truth, it looked like the Chinese sencha used in many green tea blends. Suits me just fine, I loved the stuff. Put analogously, this tasted like a celery stick lathered in honey-flavored peanut butter. Sure, it’s grassy like senchas are, but there’s more at work here than just that – a fruity lean, a nutty nuance, a sweet finishing act. Worth a visit even with the long-arse name.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/03/18/review-norbu-tea-kondouwase-arashiage-asamushi-2010-spring/

This – to me – was more green tea than pu-erh in taste. Something about it echoed the “unfinished” aspect of its name, kinda like it needed pu-erh-like composting to bring out its full potential. Other than that, what it did impart was a wine-y foretaste, an earthy middle, and a green tea-ish vegetal finish. Not quite as good as Norbu’s Nan Nuo mao cha but still decent.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/03/19/review-norbu-tea-pasha-zhong-zhai-mao-cha-2010-fall/

I loooooove me some Nan Nuo Shan pu-erhs. This marked the first time I was able to sample a maocha (i.e. “proto”-pu-erh). The leaves looked like Hawaii-grown green tea, but with an aroma akin to beef jerky. Taste-wise, however, they had the wine-y note of a pu-erh twice its age. Impressed? A smidge…

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/02/review-norbu-tea-2010-ban-po-lao-zhai-mao-cha-loose-sheng-pu-erh-tea/

This was also part of a swap from Mel — thanks a lot! This was the first heavily charcoal roasted TGY that I’ve had. (I believe I had one from Life in Teacup before, but it was far less roasted than this one).

When I opened the bag, it smelled so familiar, like ‘dear old’ Houjicha. I was hoping this would be a wonderful cross between the roasted sweetness of Houjicha and the buttery flower of green TGY (at least, hints of floral notes or fruit).

Unfortunately, teaddict is right (other person to post on this one); it seems a little too roasted. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good tea and I enjoyed all 7 steepings (which, hadn’t really given out by the time I did), but there was very little evidence that this was a TGY. For the most part, it tasted like a Houjicha, but not my favorite one either.

Now, if I could find a cross between the two, that started with more roastedness on the first few steeps, but became more fruity or floral as the leaves opened, I think we’d have a winner!

Crikey…

This is my second superb white tea in two days. I’m starting to feel blessed or something. This is unique in that the varietal used is often only used to create raw pu-erh. The leaves can only be harvested in early spring. The buds smell like wilderness – milky, minty, wild. That experience also translates to the taste yeilding a cup similar to Greek Mountain “tea” but far more nuanced. White tea is back on its pedestal next to Yunnan Golds…in my mind.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/03/31/review-norbu-tea-ya-bao-camellia-varietal-wild-white-tea-spring-2010/

Drank this again a few days ago: the toasty is never bitter or overwhelming, just cozy—roasted corn, not scorched barley—and the sweet almost fruity flavor keeps going for many infusions. An excellent later-in-the-evening tea.

Warm toasty friendly bedtime tea
Finally broke into this tea this afternoon, wanting something mellow. And it is warm, toasty, mellow, cozy, a little sweet. It smells very darkly toasted, much like a genmaicha, but the brew, while clearly toasty, has none of the bitter scorched notes that have put me off of that tea. I love it.

I ordered a glass 5oz gaiwan from Norbu. It is so wonderful, and I totally recommend checking it out if you are consider buying one. I don’t use it all the time, but it’s quite handy. A sample of this tea came along with the gaiwan, which was a great surprise.

I was hesitant to try since it was charcoal roasted. I can’t stomach smoky teas for the most part. The dry leaf smells refreshing. Yay, roasted, not smoky! It has a small sweet wood flavor and chocolate hints. I prefer greener, but this is quite nice. It’s complex, so make time for this tea.

Opening the foil pack, vacuum-formed around the tea nuggets, I’m greeted by a fresh, green and fruity scent. Aaaah, the new crop is such a fine event! The rolled-up tea is smaller than other batches of Ali Shan I’ve had, and this is borne out later by the smaller-than-usual wet leaves. I covered the bottom of the glass gaiwan a couple of layers deep in the green half-balls of tea and poured on a little hot water, dumping it immediately for a quick rinse. The first steep astonishes me with its thickness, coating mouth and throat with buttery goodness. I thought I got a whiff of grain, or perhaps popcorn, in there, too. Very tasty. Second steep, sweeter, with intermittent notes of lilac and rose. Good flavor and aroma, even though the liquor of each steep tends quite pale yellow-green. Fourth steep, at 5 min long, the gaiwan is full of leaves and the tea’s full body continues. I’m still drinking greedily, almost hungrily … it’s that satisfying and thirst-quenching … and I did a 5th infusion, too. The rich texture and buttery taste are what make this tea most memorable for me. I’m really enjoying it!

I first has this tea from Silk Road Teas. The Norbu version is virtually identical. I love this tea. It took me about two years of drinking black pu-erh to come to appreciate green pu-erh, but now I love it. This Mao Cha has a quality of intense, delicate, pleasurable bitterness unlike any other tea I’ve tasted. The word that comes to mind is “bracing”. There is something about its lovely, pure bitterness that cuts through you like a painless knife: sort of what I imagine what it would be like to undergo “psychic surgergy”. Anyway, it has become one of my staples. And it holds up well to multiple steepings and can be drunk in large quantities.

Very much liked the sweetness and delicacy of this tea.

Fabulous! Exceptional oolong with deep, rich, penetrating, complex, dark flavor. Yummy!