2014 Autumn Raw Puer Tea (Basics Set)

Slightly sweet and astringent with a bit of smoke.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2014-basic-autumn-w2t

Wet Leaf: That “sour” sheng scent present in the 2015 spring has turned into a very distinct scent of olive oil. The smoke on this one comes through more as well. Hint of some kind of stone fruit peeking out in the later steeps too.

Early Steeps: Pretty much exactly like the spring 2015.

Middle Steeps: The flavor has darkened, less high notes as the 2015 and an increased depth of vegetal flavor. Bitterness develops in the mouth the same way, increasing with the session.

Tail End: Similar to the 2015, sort of just fades into astringency.

Verdict: Some subtle, but noticeable, improvement compared to the spring 2015. Drinking this in early 2017 makes me wonder how much the differences are due to terroir or age. But either way, based on the way this developed compared to the 2015, I’m looking forward to it’s evolution. Probably won’t touch this for a couple of years though.

I’ve had this tea for quite awhile.. about 6 months. In that time, I’ve used about 70% of it but haven’t written down my thoughts. The cake has a sweet, dry grass/hay and apricot smell to it. It’s somewhat difficult to break up, but this could be a result of my dry storage. As time goes on, it’s coming apart in tuo style chunks instead of nice whole leaf pieces. I’m using 7g in my favorite ~90ml yixing pot this time as I find that this tea can be pretty light and it responds well to a heavy hand with regard to both leaf amount and steep time. A puer newbie could steep the snot out of this and it would still be drinkable.

The first steep, at 10 seconds, is very light in taste but the sweet aftertaste is already apparent. Not much to this one – I often toss it and start drinking at the second steep. With budget tea like this, I don’t feel too bad about it.

With a second steep, the liqour looks closer to what I expect from these leaves. It’s a pale amber color, and the flavor, though still light, is there. It’s sweet dry hay – really pleasant and familiar. There’s some florality but I can’t place it. As the tea in my cup cools, I notice that it tastes fuller and thicker – much better that what you might expect for a budget offering.

Hot water into the pot once again. This time, the brew is certainly darker. It’s thicker as well and there’s some mouth drying effect happening. The apricot flavor is more present now. I think this steep went on a little too long.

On steep number four, a vegetal green grassy flavor makes its first appearance. The astringency meter is rising, but it’s not too bad.

Five steeps in, the liquor looks like an amber sample. Jurassic Park vibes. It’s thick and sweet with more of that green grass flavor barging into the picture. There’s a slight minerality as the tea leaves my tongue.

From here on out, the taste is pretty vegetal but some of the original sweetness is intact. I know from experience that as I continue to steep this out, the vegetal green taste will be gradually replaced by a mineral sweetness. You’re not going to get 15-20 steeps out of this tea and I think that’s fine. It’s a budget daily drinker that’s pretty enjoyable for what it is. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just don’t want to spend 2 hours drinking the same pu. It’s intended to be an educational tool paired with the other cakes in the set, and I think it serves that purpose well.

Obtained a sample from the Pu’erh Plus TTB.

I used 5.4g in a 60ml ceramic gaiwan. Gave the leaf a quick rinse and a two minute rest. Steeping times: 5 seconds x5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 15, 20, 30, 45; 1 minute, 2, 5, 12.

The leaf smells sweet and herbaceous, of tobacco and apricot. As the session goes on, the more the leaf is washed with water, a very sweet apricot aroma takes over.

Clear, yellow soup throughout the session. The first few cups are quite bitter with some sweetness, and they feel punchy and buzzy in my mouth. Not truly surprising since the ratio of grams to water is 5.4 to 60. I’d also used boiling water. I guess this is the first time I “hit it hard” with sheng. I did feel my heart rate increase as if I’d spent some time exercising.

I lowered the water temperature to 200 beginning with the sixth cup. There isn’t much evolution in taste or texture after this point. Overall, the soup is still bitter but sweeter – there is more of a balance. Around infusion 11, a grassy note appears, replacing the bitterness. The soup then tastes like sweet grass and apricot until the end. In regards to the punchy feel, that slowly disappears.

The texture is a somewhat thick. My mouth dries a little after I finish each cup, but saliva quickly replenishes itself. There is huigan throughout the entire session, and it lasts for minutes. I enjoyed the sweet, apricot notes, and I felt contented every time I resumed the session after taking breaks. Bear in mind, I was enraged at one point and this sheng calmed me. Props.

Haven’t tried the other basics teas in a while, so I can’t make that good of a comparison right now, but this one was pretty good – I noticed it to be shorter-lived than most other W2T productions I’ve tried. Got some good floral and mineral notes throughout. Early steeps had a sort of bitter vegetal flavor to the which, when combined with the thick texture that seems to be the hallmark of W2T teas, reminded me of olive oil. As the session went on, the floral notes, which were never of the particularly sweet variety, faded and I was left with just olive oil and a mineral flavor. This session went maybe 10 steeps, with the last few becoming increasingly drying in their bitter character. A good tea, but not a great tea by any means. Good for a simple, no nonsense sheng session. I didn’t get fruitiness in the flavor anywhere, but I can kind of pick up an apricot note from the aroma on the gaiwan lid.

Like last time, I found I like this one better than the Spring from the same set. Still quite brisk, but a bit smoother and fruitier. Clear light golden liquor, nice mouthfeel, sweetness coating the back of my throat. I think these leaves would go on for longer, but after about… I dunno, 10 steeps?… I’ve lost interest and am ready to move on to something else. :)