I came across this tea in Shenzhen tea expo and tasted it on the spot. It draws attention because it does not look like a usual sheng pu-erh. The leaves are uniform and much longer than any maocha I have ever seen. When I asked why this pu-erh looked different, the maker told me it is from the other tree.
I went onto tasting it. It was milder than what I expected from a young sheng pu-erh, and the extend of earthiness was not prominent. I thought it was pleasant overall and was wondering how its taste would develop over time. Given that its price was reasonable, I bought some. When I steeped this pu-erh and tasted it for the second time, I had a very different experience. The aroma was smoky and leathery. Not only that these were unusual fragrances, but they were also borderline unpleasant. The taste was not that bad. I wondered why I did not remember any of the fragrances from my first tasting of this tea. I can only explain it by the difference in steeping.
However, I thought this tea does not have necessarily bigger leaves than other pu-erh teas. It has been picked so that its stem is longer, making it look longer, but actually, it has larger stems rather than leaves. This also explains the price that is not as high as it could have been.
When I researched about this tea, I could not quite find a lot about it online. I did not find an online shop that caters for countries outside China. There could be two reasons for this: this is a low-quality tea, or it is scarce. My second tasting suggests that it could be the former.
I will give this tea other chances in the coming years and see if it improves at all.
Tea Profile:
Type: Pu-erh (dark)
Origin: Jinggu, Pu'er, Yunnan
Harvest time: 2020
Leaf colour: Long leaves and stems in tones of green and brown with some visible fuzz
Liquor colour: Yellow
Tea Aroma: Smoky and woody
Tea taste: Mellow with woodiness
Steeping/brewing:
Place 66 g of this tea in a porcelain gaiwan and add about 100 ml water at around 95°C.
Rinse after 5 sec.
Steep for 10 seconds for the second time and increase the consecutive steeping time by 10. You can re-steep this tea about multiple times.