Yunnan Long-run Pu-erh Tea

If you’re a cha-qi junkie then this tea is nothing to sneeze at, but are we, fellow tea-lover, more than just about a power buzz?

I think that’s why I must have rated it so highly, the buzz. I just brewed up a pot of some bitsy stuff that I had sitting out, to see if I could mellow it out in later steeps. Well see.

The colour is what I’d liken to tarnished silver, the colour of champagne.

Did I mention the qi? It gets all in your muscles. Warmth from deep inside works its way up around the chest. It creeps up on you. I’m 2/3rds through my first brewing of 6 oz.

There are some teas that should definitely not be drunk on an empty stomach. This is one. I started in after breakfast of an omelet made with leeks, shitake, and ginger and some toast.

It’s jasmine, of course it’s floral.

You really have to be in a particular mood for jasmine, certainly I do. This tea is a good pick me up, but really small doses.

I steeped this first round for 10s. Still lots of tannins. I’m certainly not going to put this in a zi-sha and ruin the zi-sha container. It may whip those tannins into shape but it’s not worth losing the container.

Bitter too. All those tastes become much more apparent as it cools. Attacks the tongue. Floral and tannic finish. I might consider blending this with something. It’s too much imho even for the small amount I used. The bitsy stuff isn’t very pretty either. I’ll see if that’s something I did as I work more into the cake.

Anyway, it’s getting downgraded. A cooler temp is also definitely in order. I’ll continue to play around to see how good I can get at this one.

About two years ago I discovered pu-ers can be flavored when I bought a harmless looking cake from a drugstore in Chinatown that I frequent.

It all boils down to the “cha-qi” for me, both in terms of intensity of flavor and the quality of buzz elicited. From the moment I washed the leaves of this Long Run cake, the floral aroma was promising and true. The liquor is of a pale amber caste, maybe a wee bit cloudy by purist standards. The leaves are on the dainty side, green with young tender stems.

I’ve already had four infusions. The second was for 30 seconds and that was too long because it became too bitter, so I strongly recommend only 15-20 sec. I can’t really detect any sweetness. I’ve never found jasmine to be as sweet as it smells. It’s probably good for another seven infusions, though at one setting that would be altogether too much of this tea. It’s just that potent.

This is a tea-drunk tea. You may want to be careful about drinking on an empty stomach. I think it would be great as a first measure to clear a headache of any type.

I drank a lot of jasmine tea when I lived in Beijing, but none of it was jasmine pu-er. The question obviously begs as to the differences. I’d guess that it’s the cha-qi, because I can’t detect any smokiness, which is a fav for me among the raw pu-ers.

It is a very up-lifting tea. Those fond of jasmine tea will love it.