Happy Monday people who are reading this on Monday, happy whatever day you are reading this on if you are reading it some other day. I am beginning to get to that point where I hate Winter again, it is aching cold and there is no snow, in fact there has been very little snow, it is the only thing I like about this time of year, so a lack of it is just depressing. I am seriously debating getting a sun lamp, the kind that helps with SAD, but I am also afraid I will burst into flames like a Minecraft Zombie, so a helmet might be required.
You know what I have not done in a long time? A theme week! Yeah, I love those, I really need to do more of them, so I going to devote this this week to the dark side of tea. Starting off with Wymm Tea’s Mangnuo “Cane Tea” Raw Pu-erh From Ancient Tea Tree 2014 Early Spring, woo, that is a mouthful! So, about this tea, the trees the leaves are plucked from are 200-300 years old specially trimmed to form cane shaped branches, leaving only the buds, so yeah a lot of trees are needed for this super uniform fancy Sheng. The aroma of the dry leaves is pretty subtle, with notes of green bamboo leaves, freshly mown grass, cut hay, and a finish of camphor. I do love those camphor notes in tea, especially in the summer where it acts as a coolant.
First steep and rinsing, not sure I have introduced my Sheng pot yet, it is an adorably tiny 90ml Shui Ping that is debatably from 90s (I say debatably because you never know with ebay) and it seasoned beautifully, I am always glad for a chance to use it. The aroma of the liquid for the first steep is pretty yummy, it blends bamboo leaves, grass, mown hay, honey, distant fresh spinach (really it is just a hint) and a finish of uncooked rice. The sun colored liquid is delicate and sweet with notes of honey, hay, and a touch of rice and camphor.
The tea starts out a little bitter and then boom immediately sweet with a surprisingly smooth mouth feel, almost silky in its texture. The flavor notes are a mix of honey and sweet rice, this transitions to hay and grass and a touch of vegetal. The finish is a blend of green and camphor, imparting a delightful cooling effect on my insides.
Once more into the tea (it just sounds better than once more into the breach, ok?) The aroma of the liquid is much more intense this time around, the previous notes are still there but much stronger, especially the fresh hay and grass notes, and they are joined by a hint of straw. The taste still has a strong notes of fresh green bamboo leaves, I love that, but I love the taste of bamboo so I am always happy to run into it. There are also notes of uncooked rice, green grass, hay, vegetal and a strong honey note. The honey note lingers long into the aftertaste, there is not as much camphor this steep.
Hello steep three! Hello aroma notes of hay, green grass, fresh bamboo, a bit of bamboo shoots, and a touch of rice and honey at the finish. This steep was similar to the first as it had a bit of a bitterness at the first but very quickly faded to sweet honey and green bamboo leaves. This moves to uncooked rice, hay, grass, uncooked spinach, and a finish of camphor.
Usually I end my reviews at three steeps (even if I continue on with the tea) but with Puerhs sometimes you really do not get a real feel for it until many steeps later. I ended up going for a total of twelve steeps (it was a long day hehe) and had a great journey of growing sweetness and utter banishment of bitterness, the camphor notes pretty much left for good at steep four. The notes of hay and bamboo stayed strong and the taste of honey really exploded towards the end. I found the mouthfeel went from smooth and silky to almost thick (at one point it reminded me a bit of Gyokuro’s thickness) and creamy. This Sheng goes the distance and I can see why it is Wymm Tea’s signature tea.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/wymm-tea-mangnuo-cane-tea-raw-pu-erh.html
