2009 Xiaguan Eco Wild Tuocha

I am not sure if this is typical for a wild grown and sun dried puerh as this is anything but bitter, harsh or smoky for its very young age for a sheng puerh. In many ways it reminds me more of a green tea or a green oolong in how it is light, fresh and surprisingly smooth in its taste. This tea also has the strongest energy (or Qi as some call it) that I have ever encountered in a tea to date. So this is not a tea to be drinking at work if you value the ability to think straight and focus as it gives a bit of an airy feel to one’s head after drinking a small amount of it.

This is a nice enough tea. It has started to age but is not there yet. There were notes of tobacco and leather in the first infusion but none thereafter. There was a dominant note that was certainly not bitter, but I’m not sure I would call it sweet either. In fact I’m not sure what to call it. What there was none of was wet storage flavors ot smoke. You would expext some smoke from an Xiaguan but none here. I wish I had a name for the main note, it was not unpleasant. The tea’s color had changed just a little, not very much. I felt no qi from this but another reviewer found qi in this tea. Then again I often fail to find qi in a tea I know should have some. Overall this was decent but not as good as the raw I drank yesterday from Puerhshop.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. This tea I am neither going to recommend or not recommend. It wasn’t bad and may improve. It seems to be on the cusp of becoming an aged tea. I will drink it again in two years and see what I think of it then.