A bit puzzled at the name of this tea, “Autumn Song 2014,” I am writing this in springtime 2014, it is not autumn yet. It was nice to get a sample of this tea with my order, however the sample I got contained a number of sticks, and the tea had a fishy taste and smell. I only brewed up 2 grams, gave it two rinses to break up the leaves. Given the fishy taste I wouldn’t want to brew any more of it.
Flavors: Fish Broth
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HI! Garret from Mandala Tea, here, wishing you well. The tea was named Autumn Song because the leaf is mao cha that was picked and processed in autumn of 2013. The mao cha was steamed and pressed in raw pu’er in March of 2014. When a cake is pressed, the year it is marked with is the year in which it was pressed. This particular leaf was picked as 3 to 1 and 2 to 1 leaf to bud ratio and is comprised of large leaves so what you are seeing as sticks is actually the stem of leaf and bud.
Interesting that you get fishy flavors/aromas in a sheng pu’er. I’ve experienced this with ripened pu’ers but never a raw pu’er. The fishy smell is oft attributed to poor ripening of shu pu’er. Raw pu’er undergoes no fermentation other than what occurs over the years of storage.
Try playing with some of the variables as far as water temp. In the village that this tea is from, some brew it with 195 water beginning with very short steeps (10 to 15 seconds) and slowly increase temp of water as the infusions get longer. Sometimes, tweaking how we brew a tea is all it takes. Enjoy!
I think it is a small sample in a sealed plastic bag, might just be something that happened to this particular sample. I did notice more stems than usual, perhaps the stems held more moisture and contributed to an issue.
I normally buy raw new cakes to give as gifts to younger people than myself. Just was back to your site to order a couple more for presents. Raw cakes as gifts are for me a gift of time, luck and prosperity and maturity. I buy ripe, cooked, roasted and aged for myself because that is what I am. I don’t have the time in years anymore to age tea or save it for long.
Don’t worry, I will be back to Mandala Tea for more, a tea cake is a gift for every occasion.
I’m drinking this one, and while I’m not well versed in pu-erhs, it did seem to have a lot of sticks. I actively had to break them to make them fit into my cup.
HI! Garret from Mandala Tea, here, wishing you well. The tea was named Autumn Song because the leaf is mao cha that was picked and processed in autumn of 2013. The mao cha was steamed and pressed in raw pu’er in March of 2014. When a cake is pressed, the year it is marked with is the year in which it was pressed. This particular leaf was picked as 3 to 1 and 2 to 1 leaf to bud ratio and is comprised of large leaves so what you are seeing as sticks is actually the stem of leaf and bud.
Interesting that you get fishy flavors/aromas in a sheng pu’er. I’ve experienced this with ripened pu’ers but never a raw pu’er. The fishy smell is oft attributed to poor ripening of shu pu’er. Raw pu’er undergoes no fermentation other than what occurs over the years of storage.
Try playing with some of the variables as far as water temp. In the village that this tea is from, some brew it with 195 water beginning with very short steeps (10 to 15 seconds) and slowly increase temp of water as the infusions get longer. Sometimes, tweaking how we brew a tea is all it takes. Enjoy!
I think it is a small sample in a sealed plastic bag, might just be something that happened to this particular sample. I did notice more stems than usual, perhaps the stems held more moisture and contributed to an issue.
I normally buy raw new cakes to give as gifts to younger people than myself. Just was back to your site to order a couple more for presents. Raw cakes as gifts are for me a gift of time, luck and prosperity and maturity. I buy ripe, cooked, roasted and aged for myself because that is what I am. I don’t have the time in years anymore to age tea or save it for long.
Don’t worry, I will be back to Mandala Tea for more, a tea cake is a gift for every occasion.
I’m drinking this one, and while I’m not well versed in pu-erhs, it did seem to have a lot of sticks. I actively had to break them to make them fit into my cup.