Tea Trail 2004: Willow Grove Workshop

My tiny tasting cup finally came! I’ve had this sample from Verdant for awhile now but I wanted to wait to try it until I could give it attention and lots of steeps. This is my first tasting note logging multiple infusions! I don’t have very sophisticated taste buds but I still felt like I got a lot of this tea (Rayn contributed a bit too).

I started out by giving this tea two quick rinses.

1st steep – about 4 seconds
Smells like hay and dirt, has a reddish brown color. The flavor reminds me of earth, mushrooms, hay, and the woods.

2nd steep – 5 seconds
Liquid is dark in the infuser but pours out a darker brown tinged with red. I still smell hay and dirt and barnyard. Tastes slightly mineraly?

3rd steep – 10 seconds
Sparkling taste is getting more prominent and it feels kind of cooling on the inside of my mouth. Still smells really earthy. Slight scratchy feeling near the back of my throat.

4th steep – 15 seconds
Scent is warm and almost spicy. More sparkly and sweet, this is the first time it’s tasted sweet. Wiggles, my cat, was very interested in this steep and spent a long time sniffing it!

5th steep – 20 seconds
Pu’erh is very sweet on this steep. Kind of juicy and fruity. I must have really liked this one because I drank it fast.

6th steep – 25 seconds
Clear and sweet. Rayn comments that this one “tastes like mineral water”. Didn’t get much before it got cold since he got home from work :)

7th steep – 30 seconds
Rayn’s note: “sweet and spicy”. Color is getting lighter again, I taste a bit of the spiciness Rayn mentioned, and it seems to be getting earthy again to me. As it cools more sweet mineral water flavor.

8th steep – 40 seconds
Light amber liquid. Flavor is bright, mineraly and this reminds me of pine or cedar.

9th steep – 1 minute
Light red color. Very sweet with a hint of saltiness.

I ended up steeping this three more times but didn’t write the last few down, they were really similar to the 9th steep.

First Review

What a treat and privilege to review this Shu Pu’er just released by Verdant Tea.

“I don’t want to mess this up, so what method of brewing should I do?”, I thought. The directions on the Verdant website were easy to adapt to my PIAO glass infuser pot which would allow me to watch the Pu’er brew loosely with a small amount of water. Perfect for the task at hand.

I used Spring water and rinsed the first infusion before steeping. Each steep was 3 minutes long.
Here’s a little tip from Grandma Bonnie: Rinse your hands in some of that tea water. Somehow, get the SMELL of the tea on your hands so that no other scent will cloud your tasting.

1. Watching the Pu’er bark float in the hot water, little particles began to hang in the water like planetary debris. Little by little the color changed to cherrywood and the leaves smelled like furniture lacquer and molasses honey. There was no huge earthy smell, no musty caves of China or dusty boots in either the scent or first taste. This was genteel. Here was a country kitchen with warm, baked bread steaming on the window sill and a crock of mineral water from a mountain stream to wash it down with. Juicy, burnt edges on the crust so faint that you wondered if there were nuts in the bread…but decided that the thought was a phantom. You could smell some wild mint far away…ah now gone. Sweet wheat bread.

2. This was a sweet smelling cup, golden orange-brown like root beer. The wheat bread flavor was almost gone but a tingle of coolness had arrived. I could feel some tannin on my tongue and a woody, amber honey that was very ripe. This steeping was a mystery as if it was in the middle of making up it’s mind on where it was going next. Waiting in the wings, ready to go on stage. I couldn’t wait to see what was next!

3. The leaves were laying on the bottom of the steeping reservoir, giving all they had left…a squeeze of robust color now a lighter deep golden brown.
The flavor was smooth and a bit salty (I liked that). Here was a bigger mineral taste, without any bitterness, right up front. It gathered up juiciness and sprinkled spice in my mouth. I could feel the heat. I pulled back a moment…where were the flavors? A trickster ambushed me on a side street with a cool attitude. Yes, Cool Operator! Mint had arrived. Warmth, Spice, Mint. Are you serious?! I slapped my face and came to my senses. This was so pleasing.
I decided to become a rebel…to become, Grandma Bonnie! (you may want to stop reading here because this is not what tea purists are supposed to do!) I added a little sugar to what was at the end of my cup. And it turned into BREAD PUDDING! I am serious! (I will never get any more sample tea’s from Verdant I just know it!)

This is a Pu’er that is not like the others I’ve had, you know, the deep earthy ones, and light bakery vanilla ones. When have you or I ever had the bread, spice, mineral and mint (mint?!) in one Puer?! It is very different and worth tasting!
Thank you to the special people who seek out the best tea from small farms for us to enjoy!

http://youtu.be/sOI8ae3Lub8 (Smooth Operator, Sade)

This is a fascinating Pu-erh. The earthy flavors of this tea are lighter than the aroma would suggest. What is really interesting in the first couple of infusions is the lightness of the body and the crisp, exhilarating sensation that comes with each sip. It is almost minty… but it doesn’t taste minty – it just feels minty, if that makes sense.

By fourth infusion, I noticed that the body became fuller, and much of that lightness I just mentioned is gone. With the heavier bodied tea comes interesting cinnamon and apple notes that were merely hinted toward in the first infusions.

I took this through six very incredible infusions, and I found myself enjoying each new infusion even more than the previous one. This one is definitely worth exploring!

I followed the instructions on the verdant site, to brew this tea gongfu style. The wet leaf is of an old ancient pine forest, deep and earthy, black as night. It’s a smell I love.

The flavor is both bright and dark, if that makes sense. Very earthy, a little drying, slightly sweet, and there is the ‘fresh’ sensation of mint, but not the flavor.

I’d like to say, at this point, that I’m hypersensitive to a lot of weird things. A few days ago I drank a puerh that made my head feel numb. This one is doing the same thing, only in a much crazier way. I don’t feel that I’m in any danger, but I am going to put the tea away for now. I am going to describe what’s going on, because I want to know if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this from drinking puerh.

As a preface, a little personal history. In my youth I did a lot of hallucinogens, especially of the fungal nature. (I’ve been drug free for 29 years) Having said that, right now I feel like I’m on a mild shroom trip. My entire brain is tingling, especially in the 3rd eye area (front and back), & I feel a little numb mentally, but also strangely alert. If I didn’t have students coming soon, this would be a good time to go sit in meditation. With my eyes closed, this actually feels really good. With my eyes open, I’m having some photo-sensitivity (which I have sometimes anyway). I’m not having any other visual distortions, but the tingling/cooling sensation is also spreading, first down my spine, and also throughout my body.

Again, I don’t think I’m in any danger, I just feel weird. Maybe this is what they call ‘Chaqui’?

Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample!

This has taken me much more time than planned to finally add the notes to this wonderful tea. At least that’s what a journal is for, to keep my thoughts recorded. This tea is too special to forget.

The aroma that rises from the pot, immediately reminds me of stewed tomatoes. The taste of the cup is mellow and tame, which I really like. Not exactly what you expect from a shu. The liquid is slightly acidic, yet minty – especially towards the front of the mouth. I’m also picking up some likeness of peppercorn. This is a very nice tea, that stays with you the rest of the day.

Wow does this tea ever conjure up memories! My train of thought upon breathing in the scent of my first cup after the rinse: “Oh this is really woody, ooo and a bit of smoke, mmm campfire, no, an old cabin, a grand old cabin with a tall vaulted wooden ceiling and beams and railings and old wooden furniture and an old brick fireplace and oh my goodness Girl Scouts!”

http://friendsofcrowellhilaka.org/north_house.htm This is the mansion our troop stayed at I think twice. Yes it is brick on the outside but the floors and the ceiling and the loft, all wood, chestnut apparently. I would love to take Rowan there for a day trip. And check out this beauty toward the front of the camp we always passed: http://friendsofcrowellhilaka.org/amity_house.htm

Anywho this tea takes me there. It seems a bit stronger than some of the other Verdant shu’s I’ve tried, especially in this second infusion which has some fruit and floral aromas oddly enough. It is dark and sweet and yes a bit musty, but I really like that it’s like tasting time, hallow logs decomposing on forest floor after a rainfall and an old not very often lived in house. Oh how I love shu, off to reinfuse! Third infusion: Hello mint and basil! Fourth: more wood, savory, prickly… stewed tomatoes, yup.

Yixing Method
Rinsed

First steep – mineral, leather, sandalwood, tree moss, oak, drying in back of throat, light bright mouthfeel.

Second steep – the same but stronger with an ever so slight sweetness peeking through toward the wisdom teeth, yes I realize that is strange.

Steep Three – same flavors but lighter – tickling on back of throat – slightly cooling sensation but not minty.

A nice earthy pu-erh.

I have had very little “new” tea lately, if you have been curious about my conspicuous absence. I am preparing for a long trip abroad and between wanting to avoid leaving a cabinet full of leaf that is slowly going stale while I am away and wanting to save money, I have been using up a lot of existing stock, and have been avoiding purchasing anything new.

My great joys lately has been not only my 230ml Mr. Chen yixing (http://camellia-sinensis.com/en/teapot/theiere-de-m-chen-ch-3) which I have been using for sweet shu and Yunnan golden, but also my newest, teensy, tiny 150ml black clay Mrs. Sheng yixing (http://camellia-sinensis.com/en/teapot/theiere-de-mme-sheng-sg-8) which I use to steep lapsang souchong — it seems fitting to me to put this moody, smokey tea into a black clay pot. Someday the clay will look and smell like a well loved briarwood pipe.

But, I ran short of shu pu-erh with a few weeks to go before my trip, so I decided I needed something special to see me through the last days and I grabbed a couple of ounces of this leaf from Verdant.

This is a significantly mustier tea than the shu I tend to keep around as daily drinking leaf.

The dry leaf has a sharp, leather/jerky kind of aroma to it.

The wet leaf has the smell of a rotten log, just broken open to the air, with the tang of an old steel sink an aged cabin.

The cup itself is dusty and mineral. Well water from deep in a cavern. The rich, spongey loam of the deep forest.

And yet, this cup is very gentle. For a first steep I find myself seeking out these notes, not trying to climb out from under them. I hope this doesn’t prelude to only achieving a small handful of steeps with this leaf.

Update in a few hours.

My first impression of this tea is that it’s really, really good. My first experience with shu went pretty bad, but this is so much better. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for a full review, I have a double-header of exams tomorrow, and I need to review. I’ll reserve judgement until I have some time to really reflect on this tea.

After hours of studying and several (I lost count) cups of tea, I have to say that I do not in any way regret buying this tea. In all honesty, it’s actually a nice break from the Yunnan blacks that I’ve been favoring recently. I’ll try to post a more substantive review later this week, probably Thursday or Friday.

Sipped this earlier today while sitting in the sunlight, and filled a couple pages in my handwritten journal with flowery language about it that I won’t bother you all with. But in summary, this tea went something like this: Earthy/Minerally > Extra minerally > Meaty/savory/smokey > creamy/sweet(?!)

Of course in my head it was something more like being part of a hunting tribe tracking prey through the mountains in the harsh winter, then celebrating the successful hunt with much feasting. But that is just the sort of thing that happens in my head when nothing exists but myself and a cup of tea.

This tea makes me feel less sad regarding the ’06 Tea Trail offering that is no longer available.

Amazing. Turns out I love this kind of Pu-Erh. It’s not funky or fishy at all. The underlaying flavors I can detect are apple and honey. I had this with a small piece of raw, extra dark chocolate: what a perfect pairing. Will certainly reorder.

I just saw that Adagio teas now has a tumblr and they have posted the new Zodiac Series tins. I worked on the design in December and finally I can see the finished product. So exited!

My package from Verdant Tea finally arrived yesterday and I was able to taste my first pu’erh. My longer review with photographs is in my blog:

http://paradiseinmyteacup.blogspot.ca/2013/02/of-personal-notes-and-2004-willow-grove.html

I didn’t know what to expect… Knowing all I know about pu’erh and reading other peoples reactions to pu’erh I was prepared for all: the good, the bad and the ugly. It turns out I was only faced with good.

In the package the tea smelled very mildly and a bit sweet. The leaves were big, bunched up together and very dark.

I steeped it according to Verdant Tea website for Western Brewing: Rinsed the leaves at 208F, then steeped for 3 min at 205F. Resulting liquid was dark reddish brown and very clear. It smelled of woods and mushrooms and pine. As a matter of fact, I got an instantaneous flashback of the mushroom picking trips with my grandpa as a child. The taste was mild, full bodied with that woody, earthy flavor. There was even, ever so mild astringency building up on the back of the tongue towards the end of the sip, but which disappeared when the sip was over.

It was getting really late at night so I only re-steeped it once more. Once again at 205F for 3 minutes. I was shocked to find out that the tea was actually darker and stronger with this second steep. Still full bodied with a wonderful earthy flavor. Next time I will definitely start this a bit earlier in the day so I can steep until the flavor runs out.

All in all I really enjoyed this tea and I’m glad to be in the club of people that drink pu’erh! Now I have to try sheng and compare the two. :D

Edited to add: I almost forgot!! While I was sitting and enjoying the cup, all of a sudden I got a head rush. I’ve heard about pu’erh doing this to people but I totally forgot and it took me by surprise. It was mild, but I definitely felt like I was on something… lol

I am drinking this one right now. brewed 5 grams in gaiwan.
once the leaves open up, it has a nice vaporous quality for severall infusions.
smooth mouthfeel and rich, mellow flavor.
the initial fragrance of the wet leaves seemed rather earthy, though the taste and aroma is perfectly clean.
nice reddish brown, mahogany color infusions. highly infuseable, as a good shu should be.

See http://teacloset.blogspot.com/2012/09/shoveling-compost.html

This tea is absolutely fantastic. I was surprised by its texture even though I’d read a bit about it before brewing it. This is, by far, the cleanest pu-er I have ever tasted. But the clean/cool/almost minty feeling of this tea matches the musty/earthy flavors in a strange but amazing way. It almost seems like it shouldn’t work, but it does. Very well.

The smell of this tea is like rain in a thick forest; it’s slightly damp and musty, yet clean and comforting. It has a quality that I can only describe as similar to smelling the spine of an old book on a foggy morning.

Early infusions were clean. They had a very pure quality to them that was almost like drinking cold spring water, but with hints of leathery flavor and a musty aftertaste developing over time. As I kept going, infusions began to taste more full-bodied, and a smokier mineral taste developed. The lightness that defined the earlier steepings began to be replaced by darker tones, but the clean texture stayed. I also began picking up on the “old book” tones that were present in the scent. Near the end this tea was dominated by cedar smoke and leather with undertones like warm apple pie, while the aftertaste developed a sweetness and the clean texture was still alive and well.

Overall, amazing. But difficult to define, and even harder to explain.

It took a few steepings for the flavor to start to come out.

This tea goes particularly well with strawberries with a little yogurt or whipped cream.