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“Sipdown Backlog 1/22/22 I had a longish tea session with a friend yesterday. They were drinking Lao ManE, so I wanted to drink something special, too. I meant to drink this one sooner, but I like...” Read full tasting note
“We have heard of a tradition in China that, when a daughter is born, the family purchases the finest PuErh that they can afford and stores it in waiting for her wedding. The tea ages along with the girl and becomes richer and more complex just like the person. Eventually, the prized collection becomes a dowry of sorts and an opportunity to taste and celebrate at the wedding. We are not sure how wildly practised this tradition is but we liked the overall idea – with a few tweaks!
When we found out that we were expecting our first child in early 2019 we thought that it would be wonderful to source a Sheng PuErh tea from the year of her birth and make it ‘her’ tea to taste through her life. As she grows the tea will develop and we hope that it will be her companion through all of life’s majesty – the struggles, the quiet beauty and the celebrations.
We began sourcing in Spring 2019, trying to find PuErh which was sprouting as she grew in the womb and wanted to blend this tea with pickings from the month of her birth in October 2019. After many tastings, we found a combination that we felt was fitting – sweet and aromatic in its youth but with plenty of depth and minerality to provide the backbone for developing into a strong and complex tea.
This 357g ‘Aiyana’ cake is a blend of March 2019 Ba Da and October 2019 Bing Dao mountains. They are both from Gushu trees estimated at around 300 years of age.
We have only pressed 200 cakes and we are keeping many for our family. We have some cakes available for those who want to share in this special moment with us with a very special celebratory tea for our daughter Aiyana."
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Sipdown
Backlog 1/22/22
I had a longish tea session with a friend yesterday. They were drinking Lao ManE, so I wanted to drink something special, too. I meant to drink this one sooner, but I like to hold onto the last bit of tea for as long as possible. Someone sent me a sample of the Aiyana after boasting on the quality of Mei Leaf teas. They told me that this tea would make me a follower and permanent customer of Mei Leaf. Sure, they have a lot of hype, but I had my doubts about a few things (I don’t feel like getting into here).
The dry leaf didn’t have much of an aroma. I like to compare my notes to theirs on their site because their notes are waaaaaaaay out there.
They noted, “Bayberry syrup, fennel seeds and toffee licorice.”
I noted, “Youngish sheng/hay.”
Even their tasting notes were well beyond what I tasted. I tasted floral (nothing specific) and a touch of strawberry.
Their notes: “Strawberry jam, Victoria sponge, vanilla cream, flint and mountain flowers.”
Yeah, if I read their notes and purchased the cake at their incredibly high price, I may have been heavily disappointed. Was it good? Yeah, I thought so. Was it as good and complex as Mei Leaf said it was? No, not really.
PS. The leaf died after 9 infusions. Is this typical for gushu?
Flavors: Floral, Strawberry
