2005 Ye Sheng Wild Tea Log

I got a sample of this tea from Norbu a while back, and decided to try it today after I was looking in the cardboard box that now holds my sheng collection. I read you shouldn’t keep these in the kitchen, but since I have a studio apartment there isn’t a ton of storage anywhere!

1st steep: in the Xiying teapot, and after a quick rinse I decided to steep it for 30 seconds or so. This is a very gentle sheng as it is evidently made from compressed ya bao tea. The tea color is very light and the aroma is that of clover with some very soft vanilla and lemony notes. The tea aftertaste is sweet and almost custard like.

2nd steep: similar to steep #1 but some thicker honey notes are becoming more prominent, this is very enjoyable!

3rd and 4th steep: I decided to combine them together into one nice cuppa. I’m still getting the lemony and custard notes as well as some banana. I don’t seem to be getting a huge energy boost from this stuff, but it is tasty! Overall, very enjoyable.

If you don’t like the standard shu type of pu-erh you might want to give this one a whirl, it’s very gentle…

Apparently made from the same wild varietal as the Ya Bao tea buds that I’ve enjoyed so much, but compressed and aged. Greg describes a ‘lemony’ flavor and there certainly is a lemony aroma to the dried compressed leaf material, which looks rather coarse and quite clearly includes the fuzzy pale buds along with darker leaves.

Used 3.6 grams of tea in a 2.5 oz/75mL gaiwan (the proportions Greg recommends on the Norbu site) with water just off the boil. Flash rinsed, waited 2 minutes, another flash rinse (wanted to see the leaves open up for the rinsing, but it is still quite compressed, so I’m giving up), and then short steeps—first 15 seconds, up to a minute by the 4th or 5th.

It’s mellow, sweet, floral, and yes, lemony. Quite interesting. It reminds me a lot of the silver needle tea I was drinking earlier today, and like the silver needle, it is delicious with chocolate. It really does not in any way resemble puerh, despite being aged and compressed, except that it does shine here in these short steeps.

The liquor is a rich amber, and the leaves at the end vary from green to tan.

All in all quite interesting and tasty.

Photos here:
http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/2005YeShengWildTeaLog.html

Norbu gives this tea the nickname of “lemony pu-erh”, and for good reason. Of the four infusions I did with this, flavors ranged from lemongrass, to lemon verbena, to wild white tea. Citrusy, nutty, rice-like, and with a floral finish. It doesn’t quite surpass the majesty of Nan Nuo Shan shengs, but it’s just about become my second favorite. And for an ’05, the price was rather reasonable.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/04/18/review-norbu-tea-2005-ye-sheng-wild-tea-log/

I just got this tea today. It is very lemony which is a very nice complement to the sheng puerh flavor. If you are a fan of Ya bao then you will most likely love this tea.