2012 "Jia Ji Tuo" Raw Pu-erh

Quite a nice young sheng pu-erh it has a pleasant alfalfa like green taste with a hint of depth and a touch of astringency and a hint of orchid and melon smell/taste on the finish. Very pleasant to my taste for a young sheng. I look forward to watching its development.

This was my first decent sheng pu-erh in tuo form.

Compression is extremely tight (like ‘iron cake; tight almost) and it took me a while to figure out how to break this apart without destroying too much leaf (which was futile, as there’s a lot of broken leaf in this already). The leaves really expand a lot after the first three steeps.

After various tastings and working my way through the tuo I realised the more compressed leaf (bottom of the tuo) tastes much more astringent than the slightly looser leaves at the top of the cake.

I put 5g into a 100ml gaiwan and rinsed for 20 seconds with boiling water. The scent from the leaves is vegetal and rich with bitter melon moving toward geraniums, orchids and artichokes – no sweetness detectable at first; but the geranium/orchid floral quality comes out.

Other predominant flavours in this tuo are leather and freshly planed hardwood. I mention honey, but note this tuo isn’t particularly sweet in taste at all.

I had to do flash steeps – starting at less than 5 seconds for the first three steeps. This will make many infusions. You don’t want to over-steep this.

Initial steeps are overtly astringent and strongly vegetal in flavour with no sweet aftertaste, but eventually a mild floral honey-sweet taste does present itself (about 4 or 5 steeps in) – for me in the back of the throat.

As mentioned, I find that the flavour and astringency can vary depending on how broken up the cake is. Whether it is a looser or more compressed portion (more compressed being mostly just bitter). It certainly keeps you guessing as one brew can vary quite a lot from another.

I’ve been taken off guard by some looser leaf portions and had a floral-honey scent develop with a lovely clean sweetness. I would guess this is would be how this tea would age; so the potential is good.

A nice daily drinker, but potentially a real ‘slap in the face’ tea; not for those who only like deep sweet red tea – but a fine example of middle-young puerh. I look forward to tasting it in a few years.

Have been drinking this over past year or so. Nice valued pu’er.

Honey apricot smoke and wood in opening steeps
Astringency is there, but not coarse. Quite bitter on tip of tongue with gentle sweetness at back of throat

later steeps bring out burnt caramel and lots of damp hay

Love this stuff. Just hits me with all the right flavors. And for its age its very drinkable.

Been hanging onto this for a year or 2 now, time to give it a little taste.

10s rinse.

15s: Colour is peachy; reddish/gold.
Green taste, like grass, and straw. Javan was spot on with the observation of artichoke.

30s: Deeper golden colour. has a slight smokey aroma; like tobacco.
Taste is more astringent; not overwhelmingly so. Leaves a great mouthfeel.

-Mouth cleansed with ice water.

20s: Same deep golden red colour and smokey aroma. taste causes an increase in saliva. Getting the melon flavour Javan spoke of is like pulling teeth, but it’s there. Cantaloupe specifically. Empty cup smells sweet.

30s: Pale golden colour, the red seems to be leaving, as does the smokey aroma; both haven lessened noticeably. Much of the same flavour with an increase in bitterness.

35s: Slightly darker brew, with the same colour scheme; reddish gold. The smokey aroma is back. but the pleasant mouthfeel is gone. I’m left with a dry mouth and a thirst for more of this delicious tea. Just wish it wasn’t making my mouth dry..

- Many leaves in my gaiwan are still pressed together, I’ll agitate them and poke at them a bit with the lid to see if I can expose more leaf/flavour.

-Fresh pot of reboiled water cooled to 195F. Same leaves.

40s: Woah Surprise of the session – Colour has gone almost darker than the initial steep and has toned down the smokey aroma, Which can be good or bad depending on how you like your sheng. The taste is bitter-ish still, but vegetal to boot. I like it. Drank this one down like a blonde on spring break getting free shots.

50s: Getting quite bitter in these longer steeps though the colour is very appealing. Tossed this one out .

35s: Much better. Think this is the sweet spot steep time for me. No discernable change from my previous 35s steep. I’m feeling this tea’s calming effect quite well.

4 more steeps at 35s yielded much of the same, albeit slightly weaker.

40s: trying to get a little more life out of this tea with a slightly longer steep. I’ll do a few more of these 40s steeps and then I think I’m done.

Good tea. Could mature a bit more, I’ll try again early next year. I bought a few of these touchas so I’m glad to be only tasting off of 1 and waiting until it’s just right to tear into the others.