I am a huge fan of Denong Tea’s wild ripes. They are some of my favourite shous, but I’ve all had them with age on it. Today is Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe shou puer, so I get to try it young. The website description is vague but mentions, and certainly backed up by all their other ripe teas, on how clean their shou processing is.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaf smells like herbs and dirt. Thankfully this tea is broken up as the individual lumps are pressed hard and tight.
I used around 1 gram of leaf per 13ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. I did two rinses to encourage the tea to open, but it looks like the rinses didn’t do too much.
Tasting of Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe Shou Puer
First Infusion: The first steep of Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe Shou Puer is very light due to the compression. This ripe just doesn’t want to open up. Also, I catch a bit of green in the leaf. Either way, it steeps up pretty clear.
The flavour is light, green wood and raisins. It’s hard to tell this early on. There is no funk at all, which I find surprising as I see the green in this leaf indicating it’s partially fermented giving it wiggle room to age. Usually, a greener shou is a funky terror in the first year or three.
Second and Third Infusion: The Wild Ripe is slowly opening up. The flavour is dark raisins, creamy earth, and sweet grass with a creamy texture.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe Shou Puer finally has a darker tint. The leaves have a distinct red wine smell. The tea is sharp tasting, it is a balance of sharp earth and green fresh wood, with a grapefruity background. There is a bit of a stone fruit aftertaste. I did a mental checklist after I tasted that stone fruit as I was worried I didn’t clean my teaware for the previous tea, but I did. An abrasive full flavoured peak hit at the sixth infusion however there’s no funky, fishy, bitter, or dryness.
Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: I had run off to get the mail and noticed that sheng-like stone fruit apricot lingering aftertaste is present. This bracket of steepings still woody birch, some earth, and apricot, with each steeping greatly slipping away in flavour level. The Wild Ripe is finally a bit astringent here, drying parts of my mouth.
Eleventh and Twelfth Infusion: I worked hard to get these infusions, steeping for 15 minutes. They are soft and fruity with a bit of a powdery dry feeling in the mouth after drinking, but it’s slight. I am running on mostly fumes and fruity aftertaste.
Yeah, that leaf is pretty green for a shou, some of the greenest shou I’ve seen.
Comments
As of 2019, Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe Shou Puer is quite a green tasting for a shou but surprisingly not funky as semi-fermented young shou can be. The tea takes time to open up, and what you get is a hybrid of earth woody shou with a sheng fruity aftertaste. You can drink now for a different experience, as is it’s a uniquely pristine fruity shou.
Denong Tea’s 2018 Wild Ripe Shou Puer is a good shou to buy now and leave it for a few years. It’s starting off in a good place not funky or strange, and it’s got plenty of ageing room to ferment further into shou land. Likely the price will jump in the coming years on this tea as the material is great now.
(tea provided for review)
