Today, I am sampling some 2013 Yiwu Spring Sheng Pu’er from Misty Peak Tea. This tea is produced in pu’er country – Yiwu, Xishuangbanna Yunnan China.
Misty Peak Tea was giving away a free sample of this tea and I jumped on it fast. Sheng pu’er? YUM!
DRY LEAF: This one is a doozy as I’m pretty sure my sample was smashed up by USPS – it happens. I had one small intact piece of cake, with the rest being pretty loose. I’m not getting much smell off the dry leaves.
The tiny green Owl is sitting in my tea cup. I bet he’s hoping I will pour the tea straight into his beak.
Steeping procedure: I used around 5g of tea leaf, steeped with 200F water, 10 second rinse, then 15 second steepings for the first two, then adding an addition 15 seconds to each infusion. I went with a little cooler water to hopefully decrease the astringency due to this being a young sheng.
Fantastic smells during the rinse – smelled like I was in the mountains!
First Infusion: Lovely golden yellow cup of tea that has an earthy forest floor scent.
The taste? SMOOOOOTH! Very light beginning of sip. Mid sip the tea perks into a sweet, woody and a little bit of pear notes carried with a smooth creamy texture. The tea finishes off with a light astringent note, 1/10 on the Astringe-o-meter – an interesting grainy dry sensation on the teeth.
Second Infusion: Very similar to the first infusion, but I’m getting less woodyness, but instead a mineral/coppery flavor. The tea ends with that sweet pear, kind of apricot note. A little more astringency, hitting a 2/10 this time, with the grainy dryness hitting the roof of my mouth.
Third, Fourth Infusion: Tea, you are really complex, aren’t you? It is like the flavor notes are dancing, and I happen to capture the dancers in different positions at each infusion. This steeping is not as smooth, but upfront, strong sweet pear and apricot flavor mixed with savory cream notes, with a linger aftertaste of florally apricot. Astringency still present.
During the fourth infusion, the tea leaves really opened up, fully expanded in my gaiwan.
Fifth Infusion: I was warned around 5th infusion this sheng pu’er will get good. Beginning and mid sip is beautifully light, with end of sip ending in that fantastic apricot persimmon floral flavor. Lovely aftertaste!
I’m finding I’m feeling really relaxed from this tea. Maybe it is a bit of me having Misty Peak Tea site open and the “Beautiful Chinese Music” is playing on loop.
Sixth, Seventh, Eighth Infusion: The tea has lightened into a flow of mineral coppery sweet ending with a bit of savoryness, with that fantastic fruity floral aftertaste!
Wow the leaves are pretty big!
Ninth, Tenth Infusion: The tea is very light here, however the creamy is back! Up front, creamy wave that leads through a clean light woodsy flavor, to a 5/10 Astringency end of sip. After taste is a simple mineral sweet taste.
COMMENTS: 2013 Yiwu Spring Sheng Pu’er from Misty Peak Tea is quite a complex flavored tea! I enjoyed all the various notes dancing, infusion to infusion. I felt really relaxed drinking this tea, having a nice calming tea experience.
I’m not a huge fan of the astringency that perks up in the later cups, but from what I gather, with some age this pu’er will be very lovely!
BONUS PIC:
