CNNP Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha

I purchased this at the local Asian market. I passed by it in the huge tea aisle many times. My GF told me that it is no good. She is Chinese and does not drink tea. I figured with a price tag in the single digits I would take a chance. The tea comes in a nice package that is copper colored and the inside has this yellow silk-like fabric. The tea actually is quite good. I brewed this up basket style. The first steep for maybe a minute or so. It has a nice smooth flavor. No funkiness or off tastes. It is a very nice tea for under ten dollars. I saw it on Ebay for twenty. As I delve into cup #2 I realize I have made a very wise purchase. The tea is still smooth but now it has that carbonation in my mouth with under a minute of steepage. I will mail this tea for anyone who is interested. I have no idea how old it is. Hmm. I may have seen it in the store for maybe over 2 years or close to it. It is 357 grams and it was $8.99. There is also another one that I bought that is smaller that I will review later. As I sip further, the tea is numbing. It is very energizing without the jittery feelings. I made have to think in a few years it may be awesome. It is very good now….

This tea for me has a long story.

Around 1969 I started tasting several types of tea. I met puer in 1975, the “little french” tuo Xiaguan Xuao Fa and liked it a lot. It become a standard buy, and when later (around 1980) my grocery store had another puer, this Chitsu Bing, it was expensive (probably 5$ or even a bit more ;-) but I decided to invest in it, and I was rewarded. When I finished the first, I bougt another, but unfortunately I had health problems, I was asked to reduce drastically smoke, coffee, tea and wine: I decided to preserve wine, and give up completely the rest. The tea went to a box, that was forgot when I moved.

Three years ago I had to give up wine, so I tried again tea, starting with puer; I discovered gonfu cha, and eventually found again the old box. Silver needle, tie guan yin, bi lo chun, bai hao, lapsang souchong were completely spoiled, and the loose leaves in the chitsu bing box were a bit state, but I could recover the core of the bing, about 60 g. of almost 40 years old tea perfectly preserved. Still incredibly good, and the best of my shu collection.

Today I prepared an infusion with 4 grams in a 10 cl gaiwan, 90 C. water.

After rinsing the tea, the first 30 seconds infusion still has some stale notes, and little flavour and color, so I discarded it. From the second on, the leaves lost the stale bit, and started to develop giving a deep amber color and a sweet, mature taste starting with a slghtly pungent note, developing in a fruity taste and a very long aftertaste. The subsequent infusions, increasing the infusion time up to 90 seconds in the 7th infusion, confirm their sweet character with a pungent start.

Probably several more infusions woud be possible, but I could not waste a drop, and 70 cl of tea are enough for now; I will continue later.