Fengqing Ancient Tree Raw Pu-erh Cake 2014

A sample packet from ashmanra — thank you!

Clear cherry notes coming from the warmed leaves. The little packet had 10g in it, so I took most of the broken material for this 5g/100ml steep in a new cheapy gaiwan. Lots of little junk in the first pour as a result. Hay and more light cherry notes on the nose and in the sip. Astringency in the second steep that reads more as crispness than drying. Very clear apricot notes on the wet leaves.

I appreciate that the gaiwan in general encourages lid-off-between-steeps and really appreciating the look and smell of the leaves; this gaiwan in particular is one that can support the lid between the cup and the saucer as a nice compact package.

I haven’t seen a lot of love for Fengqing puerh. This is pretty mild, one of those shengs that alllllmost leaves me feeling like I missed something. But then it’s refreshing and easy and I enjoy the sip — and maybe that’s enough.

Next steep loses some astringency. That’s fun. Apricot/peach dominate the leaf scent, while the taste rides a pleasant line of refreshment without too much HEY LOOKIE ME flavor profile. I get some wet rock/mountain flashes with the crispness. It’s nice. And it’s lasting several steeps.

I feel quite relaxed, but I know I’m running on fumes and this is the first sit-and-think time I’ve taken in 8 days… not sure if Tea or Tired.

I wouldn’t buy more of this, I guess, but I’d be thrilled if it was offered by a friend. Which it was. <3

118/365

This is one of my all-time least favourite raw pu’erhs, and yet somehow more of it seems to keep appearing in my cupboard. I’m not even sure how it gets there, because I thought I’d polished all of this off ages ago! Apparently not.

It has a flavour to it that I find hard to describe – it’s slightly metallic, but with an undertone of decaying fish? That’s not exactly right, but close enough. It’s kind of briney, but not salty…like brine if it wasn’t salty? This was one of the first raw pu’erhs I tried, and unsurprisingly it put me off them for a long time. I now know that they’re not all like this, but then this one’ll come back around and put me off all over again.

This tea makes me sad. I don’t think we’ll ever, ever be friends.

Thank you for the samples a while back, Teavivre! First I will say that I’m really not the person who should be writing reviews for raw pu-erh, as I’m realizing they are really not for my tastes. I’ve tried a few of them now and most of them seem very similar to my palate. All of the raw pu-erh offerings I’ve tried from Teavivre have been very good though, but I just shouldn’t be the one judging them! Only one raw pu-erh remains to be tried and I think I won’t be focusing on them for a while, until maybe my palate changes at some point.

The flavor here is very light, almost citrusy and creamy. But to me, raw pu-erh is always better with the first steep. I really need to learn how to steep them better. I certainly don’t want to follow the 4-10 minute suggestion on the pouch, as that would surely be a bitter mess. I see the “ancient tree” description and I would think the leaves would have a much tougher flavor. Not so! Light and tasty, but as usual I’d rather be drinking a dark and rustic ripened pu-erh. The second and third steeps seem to have a similar flavor profile to the first steep but becomes a bit tangy/astringent, even with such short steep times. Though it doesn’t make it undrinkable… nothing I can’t handle! But raw pu-erh does seem to do this to me every time, even if I lower the amount of leaves/ steep time: the first steep is alright but the other steeps aren’t as delicious. It is completely my fault though… I’m sure others can steep raw pu-erh much better. It is delicious for raw pu-erh but tough to distinguish from other raw pu-erh (for me.)
Steep #1 // half of a 10 gram sample pouch // 10 minutes after boiling // rinse // 30 seconds to 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 30 second steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 30 second steep

Free sample from Teavivre. This is the last of the free samples I received a couple of months ago, which brings me up to date with the freebies and means I can now focus on all the teas I have bought in the meantime! :)

The dry leaf is a mix of green, brown and silver leaves. It looks like a good proportion of those lovely furry silver tips that make such good white teas. The dry leaf aroma is green and tobacco. Yes, I know that green is not technically an aroma, but that’s what it smells like, so there. Once steeped the leaves appear quite chopped. I suspect this may be a function of the process of removing a sample from a beeng, because others have noted how the leaves appear whole. They also have a vegetal, spinach aroma.

The liquor is a mid yellow colour and carries a light smoke and delicate earthiness along with a smidge of the tobacco. These notes increase with subsequent steeps. The sweetness and creaminess of the liquor remain constant throughout. There is a slight astringency that emerges in the aftertaste. The aftertaste endures nicely with a hint of menthol cooling the tongue.

More noticeable than the flavours is the cha qi which immediately struck me in the knees. I could feel my legs relaxing the second I sipped the first cup. I can also feel a serious tea drunk coming on! This tea is good now and that leaves me hoping for good things in the future once it has aged.

N.B. Teavivre recommend a 100 degree (212 degree) steeping temperature. I steeped it at 90 degrees. I worry that using boiling water will kill some of the notes I found in it.

Thank you Angel for this sample.

My hubby has next week off work which he usually does for my birthday (which is also next week). Hopefully that means we will fit in a lot of tea sessions during this time to help me clear some of my stash.

The raw cake contains whole leaves that are a blend of: dark brown, silver, gold and red/brown. Very high gloss/shine is present and lots of furry silver tips.
It has a sweet yet smoky, wood and earth scent.

Steeping: 7g
Water: 100 C
Pot: Yixing 200ml

Rinse 1 – 10 seconds
Rinse 2 – 10 seconds

Steep 1 – 10 seconds
Colour is light yellow and has a gentle, smoky and damp earth scent.
Flavour is subtle with sweet and creamy earth notes with a hint of smoke. The sweet honeysuckle notes linger into the after taste.

Steep 2 – 10 seconds
Colour and flavour are thicker. The smoke has increased though for the most part it is still sweet and creamy. Slightly dry in the after taste now though the honeysuckle still dominates. Also getting some fresh wood tones and an increase in the cream as it cools.

Steep 3 – 15 seconds
Thicker and smokier with some astringency. Also the dryness increases to the point of being perfumed. Very rich and mineral like, sweet grass perhaps or sweetpea.

Steep 4 – 10 seconds
Creamy, sweet, honeysuckle, thick, smoke. All balanced much better in this steep than the previous two. It’s still astringent but toned down. My favourite steep so far.

Steep 5 – 5 seconds
Soft, floral, sweet and slightly smoky. Another well balanced steep. Not as thick and losing strength though the dryness and astringency have also lessened.

I will continue to steep though out the day but will stop my writing for now.
Overall: The Puerh started soft and sweet which increased in strength rather quickly, with it’s later steeps calming down to bring a more balanced tea. The main flavours were honeysuckle, cream, smoke, sweetpea and wood. It’s a very nice raw/sheng that tastes better over time, put simply.

The leaves appeared to be very nice quality both before and after the steeps, as such I will consider buying a cake of this in the future should I get the opportunity.

This Raw puer is really nice, less bitter than some other puer this young. There’s a sweet overtone and the undertone is of wood and white pepper. A little lasting bitterness stays in your mouth, along with the peppery taste.

The funny thing about Puer teas is that there’s so much info out there about how you can steep it 20+ times. Granted, that’s true, the question I find myself asking when drinking a Puer tea is… do I want to?

If I can make it through 5 or 6 steepings and still be interested that’s saying something. I love the Gongfu approach to tea, but for me to really do a lot of extended infusions means it has got to be cream of the crop flavor, or it has got to have some interesting changes from one infusion to the next. Sometimes if I don’t see that really happening over the first 5 or 6 I’ll just stop there because the water I use for tea is expensive relatively speaking… it’s about 35 cents a gallon and I have to walk over a mile with a glass jug weighing over 50 pounds to get more. Thankfully I have a little cart with wheels to help me with this, but pulling it up and down hills can still be tiresome. I’m veering off course a little bit, but these are my thoughts at the moment.

Back to the tea. I like how sheng puer teas tend to mellow out after the first 4 or 5 infusions, and I think this is when I enjoy them the most. Some people rinse them at least twice before drinking to get to this point sooner, and while I don’t do that myself, I can see the appeal. As I move deeper into the infusions on this one, there’s a bit of a sweet floral taste emerging, overtaking the wood notes, but pepper is still the dominant flavor.

This was not a bad puer. It’s not as complex or suited to my tastes as many others I’ve had, but it is also agreeable and nice to drink.

First of all, a huge thank you to Angel at Teavivre for this free sample!! I am finally getting around to trying it. Today is a grey, kind of dull looking day here, so I wanted a tea that will give me some happy cha qi, so hopefully this hits the spot!!

I am brewing this in my gaiwan, and I don’t really know what parameters to use. I covered the bottom of my gaiwan (probably a few grams of tea? I don’t know) and did a 15s rinse with boiling water, then did a 15s steeping for the first one. Oh, the dry smell is quite green and nice, with that honey-hay note that I find in some white teas, particularly aged white tea cakes. The steeped aroma is quite light for the first one, a slight honey note and some fresh green scent.

As for the flavor, it is starting out quite light. Very much like an aged white to me, there is a bit of grassiness, a chewy hay-like note, and yes, a lingering sweetness. Mostly hay so far.

I made the second steep and when I opened the gaiwan, this amazing honey scent wafted out. I absolutely love that smell, it reminds me of the first aged white tea I had, sooo good. So after a 20s steep, the flavor is becoming more pronounced and green. There is a fresh, almost cooling sensation near the end of the sip. The honey aftertaste is still there, but I am having a tougher time tasting it due to the fact I am eating lunch with it haha (leftover vietnamese, actually goes quite well with this tea, but mutes some of the sweetness).

Overall, I am enjoying this tea so far. It is an inoffensive raw pu’erh, not too crazy, not many crazy flavors that some sheng can have, just enjoyable. Not a whole lot of that fuzzy tea drunk feeling (yet haha) but more of a slightly energizing, sinus opening experience. This one feels great for my allergies so far! One of the best ones yet! I feel a warm sense of energy, but am still relaxed. Kind of weird, but I’ll roll with it haha. My mood is also improving, and the sun is starting to come out, so it’s a good combo for feeling cheerier. I plan to drink a few more steeps of this tea, then toddle down to the nearby DavidsTea and try to snag some winter blends. Hoping the lineups aren’t horrendous, my mom has already asked me to get a tin of Cocomint Cream for her (her all time favorite tea, she has been looking for a substitue for ages lol). So this tea should provide some energy to tackle that today, as well as laundry haha, as long as it doesn’t make me too tea drunk ;). Thanks again Teavivre for the opportunity to sample this lovely raw pu’erh!!

Just another manic Monday. I wish it were Sunday…Yep back to work. I’m bringing something to work with me everyday because I need to thin the cupboard. Let’s face it if I’m going to campaign for new tea for gifts…or for post Christmas sales ;) I have to drink what I have first. I have to be honest say there’s not much difference between this and the Xi Gui Ancient Tree Raw Pu-erh Cake 2013. That’s not a bad thing either I have yet to meet a pu-erh I didn’t like. I like it. A little grassy, a little bit like raw almonds. A pretty good brew.

This is another sample from Angel at Teavivre. Thank you!

After flying through my cups of silver needle white tonight I thought I would enjoy one more. I reached into my teavivre sample pouch and just picked one. This is the one I pulled out. I tried the Lotus Leaf Raw Pu-erh. I enjoyed that one, but this one seems much smoother/sweeter. I get the tangy fruitiness and sweetness like the previous raw pu-erh. I might have to spend some more time with this tea before I can say too much more. I have enjoyed it so far and look forward to getting to know it better.

Again I am going to leave this unrated for now as I am not too familiar with raw pu-erh.

I’ll start out by thanking Angel & Teavivre for this sample.
This is a very fresh Raw Puerh, being from 2014. The aroma, upon opening the packet, is very fresh & green, like a barn full of newly baled Hay that includes Clover in the mix.

The main features of this tea are a tangy apricot fruitiness, a little grassy & brassy at first, with an instant tongue tingle. The middle steeps are a little peppery & bitter, but then it smooths out nicely.