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2009 Jin Mai Green Puer Tea Mini Tuocha 8g from Pure Puer Tea

Steepster Score 2 Ratings Rate This Tea

79/100

2009 Jin Mai Green Puer Tea Mini Tuocha 8g

Pu-erh Tea by Pure Puer Tea

Factory: Tong Qing Hao
Harvest Year: 2009
Type: Raw/Sheng
Harvest Area: Jin Mai Mountain, Xishuangbanna

This tuocha is unusual because it is hand picked and hand pressed from whole leaves from ancient tea trees. It comes from a company that has been around for 280 years and which provided tea for the Emperor and his court. The tea comes from one of the most famous areas for puer tea. Tuocha offers a convenient size for tea making. It has a slightly bitter taste with a sweet finish. The color is light golden yellow. Each square weighs 8 grams (0.28 oz) and can make 10-12 cups of tea. Each box contains 14 pieces.

To see a slideshow of where this tea comes from, visit Yang Su’s 2011 Trip to Xishuangbanna, China.

How to brew a cup: Remove paper. Place one tuocha in the teapot. Soak the tea in *195 degree F (90 C) water for 30 seconds to loosen, awaken and clean the tea. Discard water. Add 1 cup (8oz) 195 degree F (90 C) water and brew 3 to 10 seconds. Serve. Tea may be brewed 10-12 times.

*This temperature may be approximated by:
1) Heating water until big bubbles form or
2) Removing a pot of boiling water from its heat source and letting it sit for 3 minutes.

5 Tasting Notes

JC
87
JC

Quick Notes Thanks and apologies to AmyOh . I though I had logged this one, nope. LOL

This is another beautiful mini ‘tuo’/brick. THe leaf look amazing and tender, I almost feel bad about steeping it. The dry scent is sweet and mellow honey and somewhat faint fruits. When wet, it has a stronger and sweeter presence and yet a bittersweet to bitter tone with fruity notes.

The liquor is light yellow/light golden color. The taste is mellow and sweet with slight fruit notes on the first two steeps. As the leaf opens the later steeps get more complex with the bitter notes (desirable) that seem fruity, yet somehow floral. The tea is slightly refreshing but mostly sweet in the aftertaste.

Final Notes
Thanks again Amy, really good one. The ‘spent’ leaf is beautiful when fully opened, looks young and lively. I bought the ripe menghai square. When we do the next swap I’ll send it to you to try.

2013-01-25 20:14:01 -0500
205 °F / 96 °C
0 comments
ashmanra
ashmanra 2 tasting notes

This was a swap from AmyOh. Thank you, Amy!

I am going to sound like a sycophant, but I do agree with everything Amy said, and the company description. First, I love the little square, I love the sticker, I love the paper. Nothing to do with the tea, I know, but these are really cool! And I am saving the wrappers to decoupage onto a tin for holding some puerhs.

I experimented with it a bit. I did wash the tuo Cha because it felt quite hard and tightly compressed. The first steel went for 2 minutes, highly contrary to the company instructions but as I changed my parameters I found that there wasn’t a huge difference in the different times and slightly different temps. Hubby said he tasted hay very strongly. I agree that it is bitter, but I didn’t pick up a lot of the sweet aftertaste they mention. When I smell the leaves I am reminded very strongly of Thai restaurants or perhaps Indian cuisine…definitely some exotic cooking spice notes floating around there.

I am new to sheng puerhs, but this one is very different from the one I had from Harney and Sons that is a few years older. I would love to buy some sheng puerhs and put them aside for years and years. Makes me wish I had started this hobby a lot sooner!

Thank you again, Amy! I can’t wait to try the bamboo steamed puerh!

2012-04-07 21:53:28 -0400
0 comments

This is from Amy Oh! Thank you, Amy!

Too much fatty food and not enough steamed or raw veggies make ashmanra a dull girl. First there was the frenzy of cooking for Thanksgiving. Then leftovers, but I kept eating turkey and gravy and gravy, and dressing and gravy, and mashed potatoes and gravy, and turkey sandwiches. Finally I ended the leftovers with turkey divan, and talk about fatty food. Oof. So I feel like a slug, and then made it worse by eating two fatty meals today and having leftover Halloween candy for a snack. My tummy is NOT happy with me. I should be in bed, but I am giving my tummy some puerh as an apology for the way I have been treating it.

I didn’t look up the instructions on this and it has been a long time since I had it. I rinsed it for thirty seconds and then gave it a thirty second steep. Hey, don’t beat me! I LOVE most shu puerh at three minutes or more! Ad it wasn’t bad at all. As they said, a little bitter, a little hay-like. Nice and light, though, and I am counting on its ability to soothe a digestive tract.

Second steep was forty seconds, still good, not much different from the first. Now I read the instructions and see it was supposed to be a three second first steep. Seriously? Oh well. But I see Amy’s comment about lowering the temp and steeping longer so I try that.

Now the brew is twice as dark. We have achieved dark oolong color, nice and light caramel color, and the bitterness has increased a little. But there are more layers playing about now. THEREIS also a powerful aftertaste that is so sweet and unexpected! I would love to see how it ages.

I think so far I prefer shu puerh. Do the two types of puerh carry the same benefits?

2012-12-02 00:30:01 -0500
1 comment
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Amy oh
85
Amy oh 2 tasting notes

Something else I picked up at the tea festival… I think I got these because I liked the shape – lol. The squares come in a little box and of course, the tea, the paper and the box are all biodegradable which is right up my alley. No plastic – whoop! Pu-erh has a definite advantage in that regard.

I cut this square in half because I wasn’t sure I was up for a strong sheng experience. Then I steeped it for about 1 minute. This tea is very interesting because the top notes are light, sweet and woodsy with some green apple but the bottom notes are slightly sour and bitter. Steeping for shorter periods will definitely help to keep the bitterness under control.

After steeping you can see the leaves start to unfurl which is a definite sign these are not made with leftover crud from the factory floor. For a young sheng it’s nice but I would not recommend steeping this for more than 30 seconds. My second steep at 30 was a bit more palatable…

2012-02-27 13:49:05 -0500
200 °F / 93 °C
0 min 30 sec
0 comments

I found that if I steeped this at a lower temperature for a longer period of time it takes on some different characteristics and this really brings out the sweetness, while retaining a woodsy almost spicy quality.

2012-03-29 20:14:05 -0400
170 °F / 76 °C
2 min 15 sec
8 comments
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