Nannuoshan

In preparation for the arrival of my 2025 stash of greens and oolongs, I did some spring cleaning of my old tea samples and came across a few samples I had seemingly tried but not rated on Steepster. Whoops!

This one is certainly one I remember and tried awhile ago, and I recall enjoying it at that time as well. There is maybe a touch of sweetness. No bitterness or astringency. Very woodsy flavor in a warm and calming kind of way. Definitely not worth $0.85/g, but a pleasant drinker for sure.

Origin: Baoshan, Lincang and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, China

Last tea from Marshall. Thank you again for the trade. I saved this one for last because it is the category of tea I am least familiar with. Quite excited to try this one. And I do enjoy the videos from Nannuoshan. Actually, this is the first time I’ve had one of their teas!

Dry Leaf: Dark tones. Dark browns and dark yellows. The yellow disappears in the dark a bit, so make sure to put it under good light to view it. Medium and large rolled leaves. Lots of tricomes.
Steeping aroma: Very nice. Mellow wood tones, bready, barely? some type of grain… malt? Yes malt.
Flavor: Yeah, that’s good. Oh man. Hay, malt, bitter chocolate 85% dark, a bit of herbaceous notes.
This one you really have to sit with. Can’t walk away.
Wet Leaf: Summer floral, summer herbal, raisiny…

Another one from my second NS order. This one is really strange tbh. I dont know how to describe it. Seems pretty watery in mouthfeel yet simultaneously fairly thick. Has a lasting spiciness (think cloves) that is unusual in puerh. Supposedly, Kuzushan means “bitter bamboo mountain.”

Infusions 4-7 certainly started to bring out the bitterness. Not an overbearing bitterness, but still not quite my jam. I can see how people would like this one, though.

The taste later changed again to become a bit more acidic/spicy and the bitterness faded. Lots of complexity here.

Location: Kuzhushan, Jinggu County, Pu’er City, Yunnan, China
Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Another one from my second NS order. This one is pretty similar to its 2011 counterpart, but it’s hard to tell the differences without doing side-by-side. Also love this one, but will do a side-by-side comparison in the coming week or so to really tease out any nuances. Definitely high 90s, but will hold off on formal rating until then :).

Edit: Did a side-by-side comparison of this one with the 2011 from the same company. They are pretty similar overall. I will say it is perhaps an unfair comparison. The primary difference is less sweetness and a lingering off note in the 2012. However, looking at the leaves between the two, the 2012 leaves are much more broken. I’m not sure if they just got more crunched somehow, but certainly these leaves will let off more unpleasant notes quicker than the more intact 2011 leaves. Not sure if that’s the only factor contributing to a difference. Nonetheless. this is still a great tea!

Next up is this one from 2012. It was given as a free sample. Quite an interesting sheng in terms of aroma of the dry and wet leaves, which give dates and, when wet, leather with barley.

Mouthfeel is nice and thick on this one. Very minimal hui gan. Starts out with a nice, subtle flavor, but falls off pretty quickly after 3-4 infusions. Fairly disappointing tea after a fun aroma.

Location: Dong Banshan, Mengku, Shuangjiang County, Lincang, Yunnan, China
Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Another sample from my recent order. Wanted to round out the remaining middle aged puerhs from their catalogue. This one is described on the website as having tannin and peat flavors. I can understand the peat, and there is some astringency, but I would not say it is overpowering. Not a bad tea at all, but not the tea for me in the end.

Producer: Yunnan Liming Agro-Industrial Commercial Integrated Tea Factory
Location: Banpen, Menghai, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
Name: Cloud mist remnant taste

Got a sample of this with my second Nannuoshan order and it’s very nice! Haven’t had BHYZ in a while so this is a treat. Very floral for a white tea. Super smooth and without any off notes, as expected for this bud only tea. Thanks, Nanuoshan!

My last sample from Nannuoshan and another good one from CTH. They sent this one for free. I will be getting more samples shortly as I have already made another order!

This one is very mellow and sweet for the first two infusions, then becomes astringent for 3-4 infusions before returning to a very nice and calming character in the later infusions.

Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Another sample I selected from Nannuoshan. Picked this one mostly for its age. This is another one with no cakes, only different sample sizes. And I can’t find any cakes elsewhere of this one, either :(((. Though, given it looks like an 800 g cake, I probs couldn’t afford one anyways haha.

Very large and whole leaves in this sample. Fairly dark too for its age.

Their website says aged in Hong Kong, though it does not taste at all like traditional “Hong Kong storage” a la Yee On Tea. This one is also incredibly sweet, like the 2011 Bingdao, though not quite to the same degree. The main thing holding this tea back is that the initial intensity and sweetness falls off fairly steeply after 3-4 infusions. Still an amazing tea and with longevity exceeding 12-15 infusions, but not as good as the Bingdao.

I think that at this point, Nannuoshan is my favorite vendor of puerh. I now want to sample every single puerh on their website as these have been absolutely phenomenal!

Location: Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China
Producer: Hani Ancient Tea Factory
Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Hot damn, this is yet another CRAZY good puerh from Nannuoshan! Like LBZ, wanted to try another famous region, Bingdao. This tea is phenomenal from the beginning, and certainly the BEST semi-aged (< 20 yo) sheng I’ve had.

This one is incredibly sweet from the beginning; it is the sweetest puerh I’ve tried by far. The mouthfeel is very juicy and viscous. Longevity is 15+ infusions.

There is one infuriating thing about this tea – the website is out of cakes (or never sold them?). They say the factory is “Mengku Mengdai Tea Factory,” but I cannot find mention of these cakes or indeed that factory period anywhere else online, including taobao. If anyone has any info on how to find a cake of this, I would appreciate it so much!

Harvest: Spring, 2011
Location: Bingdao, Shuangjiang, Lincang, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
Factory: Mengku Mengdai Tea Factory
Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Got this one because I wanted to finally try a puerh from LBZ. I was a bit underwhelmed, tbh. I guess people mostly do this style of tea for the cha qi, though I didn’t get a potent one from this. The flavor is just very vague and subtle and not worthwhile.

There is some apricot in the nose of the dry leaves. Moderate astringency comes in the middle steeps. A bit of sweetness in the later steeps. Just not much to latch onto in terms of flavors.

Harvest: 15 March – 10 April 2023
Location: Laobanzhang, Menghai, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
Elevation: 1600-1700 m
Cultivar: Menghai da ye zhong

Just decided to throw this yellow tea into my basket with the rest of it. Only the second yellow tea I’ve had, and this one is very different from the first.

The nose of the dry and wet leaves is very full of roasty/dark notes like coffee, chocolate, and a touch of sweetness. The brew is a fairly light yellow like a white tea.

The flavor is immediately sweet with a potent hui gan that has incredible legs (3+ mins). Mouthfeel is nice and full. More chocolate notes in the brew, but otherwise cannot taste the roast in the broth.

My conclusion from this tasting is that I need to try more yellow teas!

Brewed 4g/100mL at 185 F in my new glass pot for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 second steeps.

Harvest: April 18, 2024
Location: Jinjishan, Dahuaping, Huoshan, Lu’an, Anhui, China
Cultivar: Jin Ji

Dry leaf: Coffee, chocolate, roasted
Wet leaf: Coffee, chocolate, sweet, fruity
Flavors: Chocolate, sweet, nutty, brown sugar

The least interesting offering from this brand yet, but still quite good! Just not as much going on with this one overall. Still very soft and with a mild sweetness, but without much in the way of concrete flavor or character to latch onto.

Another banger from Yi Chang Hao and Nannuoshan! This one is sold in little 100 g cakes and is about $0.68/g. I would say it is also worth it! Not as phenomenal of an experience as the Gedeng, but still a wonderful tea!

Also very soft from the first steep. No bitterness or astringency at all. Has some cooling mouthfeel like eucalyptus. Medium sweetness. Lasts 16+ infusions.

Keep the great teas coming, YCH!

OMG I’m in heaven! What is with this puerh?! I guess there’s a reason why Gedeng is one of the famous tea mountains.

I wanted to try some Yi Chang Hao teas given some recommendations from other online teaheads and their relative cheapness for their age when I searched for them. It also gave me an excuse to try Nannuoshan’s teas haha. I was not expecting this quality, so I am very pleasantly surprised!

The leaves of this cake are very well preserved and of decent size. They are predominately a medium to dark brown, but some bear yet some chlorophyll. The brew is not appreciably dark, and resembles the orange of the writing on the wrapper. The lid aroma is quite intense with this one.

The mouthfeel is the striking aspect of this tea. Simply otherworldly from the get-go. The website’s “velvety” description is one of the most insanely accurate tea notes I have read. This mouthfeel makes the tea feel both hot and cold at the same time, but not in the fake cooling sensation of menthol, but more like a velvet blanket coating the roof of your mouth insulating it from the heat that rises from below.

The aftertaste is similarly wild. Normally, hui gan is present in the back of the throat only. That is certainly present here, but it is accompanied by both the aforementioned, numbing, velvet blanket on my collective palates and a saliva-generating sensation across the tongue (and somehow very prominent at the front).

No notable cha qi that I get, though I don’t care about that tbh.

Lasts 20+ infusions.

Is this worth $0.80/g? ABSOLUTELY. Will I buy a cake, though? I have never been more tempted to stab my wallet in the back…

Dry leaf: Leather
Wet leaf: Wood, hay, green apple
Flavors: Wood, hay, sweet, velvet

Very nice sample of this well-aged tea from my first-ever order from Nannuoshan! This one is very sweet from the beginning and only has a touch of bitter in some of the middle infusions.

Strangely enough, the smell is almost absent from the dry leaves. Lasts 18+ infusions.

Tightly compressed cake.

A decent rock oolong that is pretty easy to brew and enjoy.

This one has a multilayered aroma when dry; including notes of brownies, fruits, nuts, coffee, and orchids; unlike later in the session. The first infusion tastes sour, yeasty and milky, with an aftertaste of nectarines and sweet wood. The tea has a nice mouthfeel that’s astringent but not abrasive. The rest of the session gives a more warming and floral vibe. There are some more savoury steeps with butter flavour. Interestingly, I find it impossible to overbrew this tea, which is certainly not a given among yancha.

I appreciate the expereince of the age on this one. Something good happened and I broke out this box of tea to celebrate. Intense, woody, roasty, uniquely tasty. An experience I will not soon forget.

This is a sweet, fruity yancha with a woody bitterness and flavours of sour cherry, nectar, paper, and beeswax. I really like its bubbly and astringent mouthfeel.

In terms of aromas, the tea greets you with a spicy and perfumy mix of cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and ebony.

Roasty, rich and tannic, this 28 year old tea must have been properly stored, because there are no stale or musty notes at all. Tieguanyin is often offered in lighter, green roasts. As far as I’m concerned, those aren’t really Tieguanyin. This properly dark roasted offering gives you the Iron Goddess of Mercy as she was intended to be, with plum skin sweetness and red wine astringency. Forget the green stuff. Once you go black, you’ll never go back.

This one is a very pleasant rock oolong that I could even drining semi-regularly. Besides the well-integrated taste profile, I also like its sticky, fatty texture and strong body presence it induces.

The aroma reminds me of brownies, cherries and orange, while the taste is bready and bitter with notes of licorice, coffee, and apples. The aftertaste further brings flavours such as honey and cola to the mix.

A refreshingly savoury tea with a sweet aftertaste and soft mouthfeel – that’s how I would summarize this tea. At times it has quite a buttery character, other times it has some marine umami that is similar to a sencha.

Its aroma is also quite complex, dry leaves smell of chestnut, sawdust, hay, and apple pie. On the other hand, during the session I got notes of asparagus, grass, green peas, and chicken meat.