Norbu Tea

I had a bit more than a cup’s worth of tea leaves but not enough to make two, so this time around the tea is a little stronger. Its smell makes me think of puff-wheat cereal or maybe those puff-wheat dessert squares.

Despite the large quantity of leaf the bakey and nutty flavours don’t take on a charred quality like many of the roasted teas I’ve tried seem to. This tea has a lot of ‘substance’ to it that gives it a slightly malty quality as well.

The second steep tastes a bit greener but there’s a bit of a bitterness that creeped in as well when no one was looking. Hmm.

The third steep is a little bit weak and watery – it doesn’t seem to have as much staying power as other oolongs. Right now it’s just a slightly nutty, unremarkable tea taste. Now this might be because I’m not brewing it gong-fu style (as stated in my previous tasting note) but yeah, I’m a little disappointed as I can usually get three or four good, solid steepings out of most green oolongs.

I got my hands on this tea courtesy of TeaEqualsBliss – she was a sweetheart a sent me a box full of teas to try a couple months back, and I still haven’t gotten around to sampling all of them.

The steeping instructions seem to indicate that this tea should be brewed gong fu style – unfortunately since I don’t really have the tea or the tea ware to do it that way I just stuck with the usual 1 teaspoon per mug of tea.

The brewing tea smells distinctly bakey and it lacks the light, floral scent I remember from the last ali shan oolong I tried. The flavour of the first steep (@ 3 min) is bakey too – bakey and toasted, like a piece of toast that just on the very verge of burning. This steep also has a slightly nutty aftertaste.

The second steep (@ 3:45) is less bakey and a much smoother cup altogether with hints fo sweetness as the tea cools, though it isn’t as nectar-sweet as some green oolongs can get (I’m not really sure if this qualifies as a green oolong or not). It also has faint nutty nuances throughout.

A lovely gongfu cha session with this tea today—sweet, floral, still, arm, sunny. Not as many infusions as the best TGYs, but still wonderful.

Sharing this tea around my clinic workroom this afternoon, raves all over. My acupuncturist colleague feels a particularly relaxing effect with this tea, more than any of the other green oolongs I’ve shared with him. I just know that drinking it makes me feel happy.

Just opened this one, and it is lovely. First impressions are sweet, floral, delicate, with less caramel than an Alishan and yes, less sharpness than a TGY, but these changes bring the sweet and floral notes front and center. Wow.

Using a small porcelain gaiwan, about 2 grams of tea in 60mL with water 195 degrees, about 30-45 seconds per infusion to start.

I’ve had some very pleasant additional sessions with this tea since I first wrote that, but today’s note is about this one brewed cold (ok, room temperature). I prepared a reasonable quantity of leaf—the amount I would infuse 2-3 times in a vessel of the size of the glass mug, and added a couple of Chrysanthemum blossoms. Steeped about 5 hours before drinking. Quite tasty, sweet, with their camphorousness intact, mmm. Will try for a 2nd infusion.

First try with this new tea today. They look thin and delicate compared to the Ya Bao buds I have used before. They smell of peaches and peach blossom.

2 grams of buds to 2 oz water in a small gaiwan, about 30 seconds first infusion. The tea is as promised by the scent, sweet, floral, fruity—again, notes of peach and sweet stone fruit blossom, but lighter and milder on the camphor than the Ya Bao buds. It’s closer to a silver needle, which happens to be what I was craving this morning, but didn’t have around.

A 2nd infusion, also about 30 seconds, is still very sweet, but with less of the floral and fruity notes.

Trying for a 3rd infusion, but upping the water temperature to 180 degrees, and time to 1 minutes, to see if higher temp can unlock more flavor. It does, and there is a pleasing fruitiness returning, a little tart, but overall I suspect this tea would be better brewed as a single longer infusion, to best get the fruity and floral maximized together.

Trying again, another 2 grams, but this time in a 6 oz teapot with water 170 degrees and for 5 minute infusion: this is what the tea wants, I think. Brighter floral flavors, deeper sweetness and fruitiness, the fruitiness has receded a bit, but the overall impression is better. I do think the leaves are done after this first infusion.

This is a very nice tea.

On the recommendation of TeaEqualsBliss I steeped this for 4 mins+ today. 160ml yellow pot with maybe a tablespoon or so (I don’t have a scale) of dried leaf-balls, which had expanded to fill the pot by the third infusion. What the longer steep brought out for me was more definite veggies plus a mild citrus I hadn’t detected before — like green beans barely splashed with lemon. Roast is still mild but more present in first infusion. Absolutely no bitterness.

I’ve noticed that several people enjoy the fall and summer Alishans from Norbu. I think we should try to do a comparison of all the different Alishans there. But now I have only this 2008 winter version (which BTW is 35% reduced in price).
It’s difficult to add to the notes from the vendor and what TeaEqualsBliss has already posted. I would simply join in the enthusiasm for Norbu’s Taiwan teas.
This Alishan is from the same cultivar as the Norbu Old Plantation Qing Xin. I think this must be an exceedingly complex plant, given the experience of these two teas. And while in Taiwan this would be considered a certified organic tea, Norbu can’t market it that way because of different US laws. Nevertheless, the care that has gone into the making of this tea is very much evident in the tight dry rolls, but even more in the finished leaves, which are beautifully purply green and intact.
There is very little oxidation, I think, so the florals really come through. They are not as intense as other Alishans, however — more sober, more solid, more restraint. But the richness is amazing. It just rolls around in your mouth. There is a sweetness that makes you think someone has slipped in honey to your cup. The roast (notwithstanding the label “medium”) is very mild, much less roast that the Old Plantation Qing Xin. It’s really interesting to taste the difference that processing makes to the same tea cultivar. The same floral, veggie, and roasted notes as the Old Plantation are there in this tea, just arranged in a different chord. Very gentle but substantial. D-minor, I would say. Later infusions loose the complexity but not the sweet fullness. Pretty amazing.
I find this tea more meditative than other Alishans. It’s a tea you can stay with.

Okay, I bought this through YunnanSourcing so I could technically post mine as a different tea since storage conditions are different, but I feel that may be “cluttering” the list. It is the same manufacturer, year, wrapper, mass, and even most of the description. A little more than $7 cheaper even after shipping is totaled in…

This is my favorite organic certified shu bingcha I have on hand. Okay, it’s the only certified organic ripe cake I’ve got at the moment. My bing purchases tend to be sheng puerh, but this was a deal and the price does not reflect the quality at all. I have my $15 cake of this sitting next to a $150 shu from the same year but displaying far less balance. Now, this isn’t big on complexity – sure, there are levels of favors but I don’t foresee this ever blowing me away with range. But it’s durable as all hell and easy to brew. Laid back ripe tea and comforting. I reach for it when I’m drinking alongside food and expect the tea to be the major element of the meal (for instance, I went and got some pot stickers, chow fun, and steamed rice ‘cause I felt like drinking this tea and wanted something to go with it).
I bought this March of last year. It has smoothed out a bit, losing some of the leathery edge it once had and the primary heady stained wood note is now mostly just in the aftertaste on longer infusions. The cake has nice flexibility for a youngin’ – it isn’t very difficult to wriggle free intact leaves or chunks without breakage. Not quite as much give/sponginess as something that’s spent some time in the Xishuangbanna area or Hong Kong, but still soft for only a few years old. This time around, I used a biiiiiiit more leaf than I normally would for casual drinking. Used a solid chunk plus about 2g of loose bits that came off with it.

Used 30g with 200ml in a seasoned shi piao style zi ni yixing teapot. Single rinse to separate a little bit… probably should’ve done two. I feel a little guilty going at this concentration with so few infusions, but boy does the tea taste good at the high end. Used 90ish degree C water for the rinse, 88 degrees for the 1st infusion, 85 for the 2nd, 78 for the 3rd. Back up to 85 for 4th-6th infusions. Steep time was approximate and ran 30, 30, 50, 30, 45, 30 seconds. If I had continued, I would start reducing infusion time to 15 seconds by the 9th infusion since the leaves are only starting to break up from compaction on the 6th brew and a touch of astringency is noticeable in the back of the mouth and throat.

Dry leaves are rich chocolatey brown with the fragrance of leaf litter in a woodland and dry bark. Wet leaf aroma is spicier – stained hardwood, cinnamon, birch, willow, redwood, and rich loamy soil over the leaf litter and mossy base. There’s a wet granite note that pops out saying “Ima gonna be a crisp tastin’ tea!” but contradicted by a prune note that suggests smoothness. Leaves are dark brown to the point of near blackness and leave a reddish stain surrounding themselves. Liquor is clear orangey brown honey color for first infusion, steadily getting darker to an infusion that allows nearly no light through and deep dark brown with reddish reflection in last couple brews. Unfired wet clay aroma to the liquor.

Sweet and smooooooooth. Hearty body. Not quite so thick you could stick a fork in it, but close. Feels like a 1:2 honey in water dilution in mouthfeel and lingering crisp sweetness. Nice florals pop out of the baseline black wild long grain rice flavor. I’m not a big fan of wild rice but like when the flavor presents in shu puerh or some red teas. Florals are mostly in the aftertaste, but include violets, tulip, chamomile, and impatiens. Toasty wood notes – mostly hardwood, but theres a smell of redwood planking being warmed by the sun, buckeye wood and foliage, dried ferns and moss, scrub oak, wheat bread toast, and bay laurel/faint eucalyptus. Right at the end of a draught I get a brief rough patch in my throat and a pruney-cherrywood flavor accentuated by a note of Japanese Maple and tobacco leaves in the nose. Aftertaste is a light woody currant-sweetness and faint but very long lasting honey-and-butter-on-multigrain-toast characteristic. Afteraroma is warming and follows through with the wet granite that the leaf aroma advertises.

Nice noir-ish tea. Really evokes the spirit of a hardwood-bedecked P.I. office, backwater docks in the misty pre-pre-dawn darkness, and cobbled alleyways. Not dirty or dank in any way, but only a little step from it. This tea isn’t really foresty… At lower concentrations and longer infusions it can be like a woodland, but really this puerh is a fairly clean example of a ripe tea.
Satisfying, rich, and mouthwatering.
Nom nom nom.

I did a head-to-head with this tea and a similar tea from Yunnan Sourcing today:

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/YunnanOBs.html

In the end, both were lovely teas. Oddly enough, given that the BYO was end-of-bag with more broken leaves, it took the 2nd infusion to start showing the spiciness and full flavor that the YSOB gave immediately. The BYO, however, seemed to hold that lovely flavor a little longer, but by the 5th infusion, both are starting to thin out, pretty much done. I have only had one Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, and that was a rose scented version that was quite unlike roses or like these lovely teas. A high quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty is reputedly quite hard to come by, but these teas are quite satisfying, and not too pricey, so I don’t feel any particular need to try the genuine article.

1.9 grams of tea
about 4 oz water (larger gaiwans, not preheated)

1st 195 degrees, 45 seconds
2nd 185 degrees (too impatient to wait for full reheating), 30 seconds
3rd 175 degrees (ditto), 1 minutes
4th: 195 (more patient this time), 2 minutes
5th: water just off full boil, 1 minute
(stopping because of diminishing marginal returns)

2009 Fall Bai Yun Oolong—Yunnan Oolong Tea from Norbu
Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent
1st infusion: sweet, fruity, floral
2nd: spicy flavor there now, still fruity and floral
3rd: still spicy/sweet/fruity/floral, but starting to thin a little esp in the fruity notes
4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; holding up better than the YSOB
5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy
Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart

Let it be said that the ability to describe the tastes of sheng puerhs has always evaded me, like those dreams that seemed so pleasant but you can’t really remember just what they were about. All the roasty-toasty oolong vocabulary just doesn’t work. So my task now is destined to fail, but must nevertheless be undertaken. Because this white-bud sheng from Norbu, which I tasted for the first time today, produces a pretty amazing experience.
Routine brewing in a tiny pot. First sip seems to make a small explosion in my mouth, like the tastes are shooting sideways across my palate and tongue. I taste steamed yellow squash, very precisely. But almost none of the characteristic sheng camphor. There’s something else that I can’t quite say: maybe caramel, yes, or maybe really good whole wheat toast eaten outside near a honeysuckle bush? But the amazing thing is how sweet and how full the nectar is. Does tea have sugars in it like wine or milk?
Second infusion. I think I actually shivered. Second infusion is even better. Camphor just whispers but not medicinal like other shengs. This one would be undetectable except that it’s camphor wrapped in sugar. And the liquid is now even richer. A tiny bit of earthiness, not loamy like old puerth, just fresh earth and a tiny pinch of grass clippings.
I think it does an injustice to say this is a good starter puerh; I think you have to have struggled with sheng first to see how different this is. I look forward to more time with this.
But… I have only a small sample. And Norbu is out of it (lifts the back of his hand to his forehead and sighs). The stuff of dreams.

Steeping about 5 times letting the water I was using cool as I went starting at 212.

Tea wear use was all ceramic.

This tea seemed to me to be lacking in smoothness, a bit bitter, the taste was indistinct and the aroma seemed flat. This is my first Pu erh tea so I may change my rating after brewing it a few more time. For right now I am unimpressed. I have had Pu erh tea steeped for me once before at a tea shop and I loved it but for some reason this just does not stack up.

Another very nice session with this tea today. Mellow, delicate, floral, delicious. A good start to the day, with about 6 infusions.

Drank this in a gongfu session yesterday. Best yet brewing of this tea—mellow, sweet, a little fruity. Mmm.

Can’t be sure what made it better—didn’t measure the tea quantity beforehand, used cool water per usual, bit longer first infusion, maybe?

First try with this tea.

First infusions about 1 gram of tea in a 2 oz gaiwan, water 160 degrees, 30 second infusion. It is a little more floral and less vegetal than the Tai Ping Hou Kui I was just drinking, and nothing like as fruity as the Yin Zhen silver needle from the Cultured Cup that I recently tasted. It is a little milder than the Yunnan Mao Feng I’ve been getting from Norbu, as expected for a white tea made from the same general source material. The floral taste is decreasing after the 3rd infusion, but some mellow sweetness remains through a 4th at least.

As anticipated, it is a less refined and more camphorous tea than the versions I’ve had before from Fujian. It is sweet, mellow, but not bitter. A nice tea, but not spectacular.

I have not been logging repeat drinkings here much, but this is one of the few puerhs I’ve ordered more than once: it is mellow and reliable stuff, something that can handle even the demanding conditions of being tossed into a thermos, hot water added, and drunk over the next several hours—without turning unpleasant, and sometimes finding a sublime sweet spot with a mix of plummy, earthy, and sweet flavors. How many puerhs can you trust to take such abuse and still enjoy?

So today’s order included several more bricks of it—I just don’t want to run out.

I came back to this tea after several weeks of drinking a fair bit of sheng puerh, and preparing a few orders of tea from Norbu and other suppliers, and thinking to myself that I have at least come to sufficient understanding of my preferences regarding puerh to skip the shu sections of their web sites. And today, I wanted a less demanding tea but wanted a puerh. So I worked loose a few little nuggets and brewed up a thermos of this tea.

It’s a lovely reminder of how nice shu can be: first impressions are delicately sweet and fruity, hints of cherries, plums, grapes, a bit of caramel. It has always been nice, but this is the best infusion yet. So nice. And this is a quart of tea from perhaps 5 or 6 g of nuggets that were still so dense and tight after about 10 minutes of hydration and infusions that there surely is a lot more flavor to be recovered in additional infusions, as the tight bits open up more.

Temp 200-212 degrees, infusions 1 minute or so, but really, there is no hint of bitterness or astringency, so infusion time is entirely up to your preference. The tea liquor is a deep ruby red, quite beautiful even in my rather use-stained Kamjove infuser.

This tea rewards attention with a complex layering and swirling of the mild roastedness and floral tastes. Leaves are tightly rolled. One teaspoon+ in a 175ml dragon egg pot (the leaves will eventually expand to pack that pot). Heat the pot first and sniff the vanilla aroma from the hot dry leaves. Now water 180-185º. After rinse, I let the first infusion go for 45-50 seconds to give the leaves time to unfold. Spice and bright flowers in the first infusion. Leaves still tight. Second infusion 30 seconds. A nutty creaminess starts to emerge and appears to float between toasty spice and floral tastes. Still bright but maybe slightly sweet vanilla-almond. Am I dreaming? Sniff the empty cup for a pleasantly pungent herbal aroma clinging to the bottom — sassafras? Long lasting tea; even the last cups, steeped more than two minutes, are sweet. The finished leaves reveal the quality of the tea’s making by hand — whole leaves with stems still intact. Teaddict gives alternate steep times, which should be tried. But even my longer times yield no bitterness. There’s a lot to appreciate here.

Another lovely brewing of this tea—a thermos full of it to drink all day long at the satellite office, marvelous stuff. Sweet, mellow, just enough spice and astringency to keep it interesting.

Leaves are dark, tightly rolled, some stems, toasty dark tart scent.

1.5 grams of tea into 60mL gaiwan, water 180 degrees, rinse x 15 seconds, then 20 second steep: first impression is spicy, interesting, but oops, before I can form a proper opinion, I am thirsty and it is gooood, gulp, gone. 2nd infusion is a little spicy, a little sweet, a lot toasty-roasty, but there is a smoothness here even in the 2nd infusion that often takes 4 or 5 infusions to achieve in a more assertive Wuyi rock tea or even my old supermarket brand Ti Kuan Yin. And there’s no sense that a bitterness or astringency is just around the corner if I am careless with times or temps.

I was interrupted and have lost count of the infusions, but I am pretty sure the current one is 9 or 10. The flavor is more dilute now, but there is still some sweetness and a little something else that is very Ti-Kuan-Yin-like. And the flavor was smooth but still quite definite out to the 7th or 8th infusion—that smooth 2nd infusion carried over without turning to water at the 3rd or 4th.

After the infusions, the leaves are unrolled, but still very crumply and twisted, with a dark brown color and a charcoal scent: with some determination they can be coaxed and pressed and flattened into medium sized, quite intact leaves.

Nice nice tea, need to get my order in before I post this, people order it all, and Greg runs out!

This is a weird and wonderful tea that doesn’t know whether it’s a green tea or an oolong. When I first opened the package of this tea, the aroma was so floral I thought it might even be a single bush tea from Guangzhou. Out of habit I brewed it like a heavier roasted oolong (fish eyes 185º or more) and by mistake, left it a bit too long (pot 2/3 full of leaves, 2+ mins). Happy accident! I got a nutty, almondy taste and a wonderfully pleasant back-of-the-throat astringency. Next infusion, cooler, shorter, and I think I smell the eponymous plum blossoms, again reminders of Dan Cong but much lighter. I think I prefer the oolong type brew: raw almonds and pea shoots and subtle floral elements are in the cup as much as aromatic; it delivers in its taste what some green teas only promise in their smell. The dry rolls of leaves are very long and surprisingly dark with silver bits, but the tea has a beautiful pale color brewed and full mouth feel for such a light tea. I believe TGY and Alishan drinkers, as well as green tea drinkers will find this tea a real treat. I usually don’t find green teas this interesting. Oh wait, this is an oolong!

i have a few of these put away…good now…..even better later…..get them while you can,i have only seen this tea from a couple vendors…

I got a free sample of this with an order from Norbu, and it’s a pretty nice tea. I’ll be ordering more with my next order.

I did a detailed review of it compared to another Taiwain black tea here:

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/TwoBlacksTaiwan7.10.html

I did two rounds of tasting—one dilute (1 gram to 2 oz boiling water) and one more concentrated (2.5 grams to the same), and found it was still not bitter at the more concentrated level. Fruity, sweet, nice. But I would not let it sit, because bitterness can develop if the steeped tea waits too long.