Raw Puerh – Underhill Lounge

2021 Moon Bear

Moon Bear "white" Puerh — Moon Bear “white” Puerh

2021 Moon Bear Yunnan raw puerh, “white” varietal, from White2Tea.

Moon Bear is a bit of an oddity. To go back a bit, Puerh tea is traditionally made from a tea (Camellia sinensis) varietal called ‘assamica’. There are also specific processing steps which are traditionally used to make Puerh tea.

Moon Bear is not made from the ‘assamica’ tea varietal, it is made from another varietal which the “locals” and farmers call ‘white’ (not to be confused with “white tea”, which refers primarily to a processing style). Beyond the growers calling it ‘white’, the seller of the tea is not sure exactly what the varietal of Moon Bear is, (though I suspect it is something close to Camellia sinensis var taliensis).

On the other hand, Moon Bear IS processed with the same steps used to make Puerh tea. I.e. Brief rest, kill green, roll, dry.

And, for the record, Moon Bear IS made from a pretty bud heavy, (1 bud, 1 leaf,) early spring pick, while puerh is typically a bit later spring and 1 bud, 2 leaf.

The flavor is much closer to Raw Puerh tea than tea processed as White Tea, but a bit on the light side, however with a fair kick of bitterness in the aftertaste.

The feel/energy is strong and definitely closer to the head/body punch of puerh than white tea.

The producer describes Moon Bear as, “another of those teas that doesn’t fit very neatly in any of the big boxes,” which seems about right.

#ShengPuerh #RawPuerh #Puerh #Tea #Cha

Big Old Ass Tree Maocha

Maocha is unsorted tea leaves. In the case of raw puerh, it is what producers/distributors buy from farmers and then sort, blend, and press into cakes (or ferment into shou Puerh). Basically, puerh maocha is green tea made from Camellia sinensis var. assamica.

A bit ago I posted about an earlier years’ Bitter Leaf Teas‘s Big Old Ass Tree raw puerh.

So, because the nice people at bitter leaf teas had some of the maocha they were going to process into the 2021 version of Big Old Ass Tree in the office when I ordered something else, (hint, the something else was a gift for Mrs Flannestad and it is in the pictures,) they sent me a sample.

Opening the bag, it smells great, spring forest meadow. Upon brewing, he first impressions are of mild flavor, thick body, and a bit of almost salinity. Towards the end of the first infusions, as it cools, a mild bitterness makes itself felt. The sweet bitterness lingers on the palate, with little of the harshness that young Puerh has a reputation for.

The energy is definitely a fast head buzz, rather than body.

An intriguing preview, looking forward to trying the finished tea later this year!

2011 Big Green Tree Yiwu

2011 BGT Yiwu Sheng via @pu_erh.sk.

The “BGT” here is a Raw Puerh cake known as “Big Green Tree” (because there is a picture of a big green tree in the middle of the wrapper).

To explain, in the early days of pu-erh enthusiasts, most of the teas were distributed by the Chinese National Tea Company (CNNP) with only Chinese characters on the wrappers. Puerh enthusiasts who didn’t read Chinese characters would distinguish between these various puerhs based on the main graphic feature of the label. “Big Yellow Mark”, “Small Yellow Mark”, “Big Red Mark”, “Small Red Mark”, and, obviously, “Big Green Tree”. The early, pretty legendary, versions of “Big Green Tree” were distributed by CNNP and very highly thought of among the teas of that time.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a Guangzhou tea collector and distributor named Ye Bing Huai started commissioning teas under the name “Big Green Tree” as a tribute (or attempt to reproduce those teas). He worked with different companies for a while, but recently they have mostly been made by the Xiaguan Tea Company.

The initial impressions are of a nearly Lapsang level of smoke. Later flavors are autumn forest floor, leather, tobacco leaves, perfume/incense, wood, and finally camphor. Very good length of flavor and complexity, but definitely a Puerh for Scotch and Mezcal lovers. I no longer drink Scotch (or smoke), but I do enjoy a Puerh that evokes those flavors.

Given the darkness of the leaves, and its relative youth, it seems like this tea must have spent at least part of its life, (before traveling to Slovakia,) in pretty fast storage, i.e. hot and/or humid. However, given the smoky burly nature of the tea flavors, it is still relatively clean tasting.

The tea provides a nicely zippy, but not unpleasant, long lasting head based energy.

#Cha #Tea #RawPuerh #ShengPuerh #Puerhsk #TeaDrunkByNoon

2015 Midwest Nice

2015 Midwest Nice Raw Puerh from @white2tea.

As someone who grew up in the Midwest, obviously, I am going to buy a tea called “Midwest Nice”. Basically, no matter what the tea.

This raw puerh from White2Tea is one of their exercises in forming tea cakes using a traditional method of steaming the tea inside roasting fresh canes of fragrant bamboo. It’s a complicated and labor intensive process, which they usually employ for a few tea batches every year. If you’re interested, it is covered in depth on their blog: Bamboo Style of Puer

The tea picks up sweet toasty/grassy flavors from the fragrant bamboo, a bit like fresh corn grilled in the husk at a Midwestern corn boil (or Mexican tamales steamed in corn husks).

I’ve tried a couple of their Bamboo Ripe Puerhs, usually on the younger side, but this is the first time I’ve tried…

a) one of their bamboo raw puerhs

b) a bamboo compressed tea with any significant amount of age.

At this point, 6 years down the line, as a raw puerh in its young middle age, the flavor and sweetness of the bamboo has completely integrated into the tea.

And indeed, if you are expecting a tea with big, burly upfront Puerh punch-you-in-the-face flavor, Midwest Nice is not currently that tea. The flavor is soft and sweet, its main attributes and charms existing more in its aftertaste and lingering post consumption impressions than in the flavor of the tea while you are actually drinking the tea. The energy of the tea is a calming, warming, body buzz.

So, while the expression “Midwest Nice” generally refers to a superficial niceness independent of your actual feelings about someone or something, I can say that I do not have to employ any false niceness to say good things about the 2015 Midwest Nice Raw Puerh. It is a truly nice tea.

#Tea #Cha #White2Tea #DrinkTea #RawPuerh #ShengPuerh

Dangerfield

2019 Dangerfield Raw Puerh from White2Tea.

“The 2019 Dangerfield was blended with an intention of being a poor man’s Naka.”
White2Tea

Sometimes there is an, ahem, danger with Puerh, in that there is a lot of jargon and knowledge of that jargon is assumed. For example, before receiving this tea and doing a little research, I had no idea what the characteristics of “Naka” Puerh would be and why it would be prized.

Na Ka is a village in the Menghai county of Yunnan China. For a long time tea from this village was highly prized and not allowed to be sold outside of China.

Authentic “Naka” has gotten to be quite expensive, (#white2tea sells a 2005 Naka for around $1 a gram,) and is known among Western Puerh fanciers for its strong body centered cha qi. Young Naka from old trees is also known for a middle bitterness that gives way to a long lasting sweet aftertaste.

This is not Naka, but is a blend of Raw Puerh which is intended to evoke the flavor and physiological effects of an aged Naka Puerh.

The early flavors are clean and on the dry side, a bit earthy. These give way to a medium level middle palate bitterness. The bitterness fades leaving an lingering appetizing sensation of lightness and sweetness on the palate. The cha qi is more of a slow build than a fast head rush, but it is noticeably there and also clean and pleasant. Not a bad trip.

I have not had an actual Naka, but I can tell you this is a good, well priced Puerh that will not disappoint, either if you are looking to expand your tea drinking horizons, or if you are an experienced Puerh drinker trying to shave a little money off your tea cake budget.

#Tea #Cha #DrinkTea #White2Tea #RawPuerh #ShengPuerh #Puerh #Naka

Dangerfield
Dangerfield
Dangerfield
Dangerfield

Tianming Pasha Dashu Big Tree

2017 Spring Tianming Pa Sha Dashu Big Tree Raw Pu’er from Mud and Leaves*.

At $33 for a 357g cake, this seems almost too good to be true!

But it is a good, solid, clean tasting Pu-Erh that, as they say on the Mud and Leaves site, would make a fine “daily drinker”.

Like the Tianming Bang Dong, the flavors are on the forest floor/umami side of Pu-Erh. There is a small amount of bitterness, but not as strong as the Bang Dong. It has good length of flavor, as well. Cha qi, aka tea energy, is also lighter than the Bang Dong, but decidedly present.

I’m a little sad that I’ve already drunk my way through the sample I’ve enjoyed drinking it, but onwards and upwards!

*I received this tea as part of a sampler I won from Mud and Leaves after entering an instagram based contest.

Tian Ming Pasha Dashu Big Tree
Tian Ming Pasha Dashu Big Tree
Tian Ming Pasha Dashu Big Tree
Tian Ming Pasha Dashu Big Tree

Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree

2018 Spring Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree Dashu Raw Puer from Mud and Leaves*.

“This tea has a nice clean aroma, strong cha qi, and a pleasant slight bitterness that combined with its vegetal and mineral flavours is quite refreshing. This is one of our daily-drinkers.”
Mud and Leaves

I do not disagree with this assessment at all.

The flavors are on the leathery-tobacco-sun dried black olive side of the flavor spectrum, with very little fruit or sweetness showing up yet in this tea’s flavor profile. The bitterness is there, but not harsh, though this tea is very young tasting and a bit wild-ish. It will probably settle down in a couple years. Some herbal lightness in the later flavors and a lengthy lasting aftertaste.

I’ve been drinking lightly steeped and lightly dosed green teas for the past few weeks, so the cha qi of a heavy dose of this did snap my head back a bit.

Strong immediate light head buzz and later a little creeping crunchiness in the muscles of the extremities. I have a feeling I won’t be sleeping for a while tonight.

If you’re looking for a strong, solid, buzzy, reasonably priced, daily drinker Pu-Erh, this could be a good choice.

*I received this tea as part of a sampler I won after entering an instagram based contest.

#Tea #Cha #DrinkTea #MudAndLeaves #Puerh #RawPuerh #ShengPuerh

Spring Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree Dashu Raw Pu’er
Spring Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree Dashu Raw Pu’er
Spring Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree Dashu Raw Pu’er
Spring Tianming Bang Dong Big Tree Dashu Raw Pu’er

White2Tea Spring 2019

The Spring raw pu-erh releases from White2Tea have been announced and I have to say Paul has outdone himself in the hilarious descriptions for the teas and how a person should know which tea to order for him or herself. Sort of a personality test for tea drinkers.

I leave it as an exercise to you to guess which teas I might have ordered.

New 2019 Teas, Up Now on white2tea.comAfter over three months of drinking fresh tea in the mountains of Yunnan our first wave of new teas is pressed and ready. There will be more new releases in about a month, but rather than wait for every tea we decided to let the raw Puer fly!

Here is a quick list of recommendations for the 2019 raw Puer line up.
Click the link(s) that best describe you:
I am broke as hell but want good tea.
I’m only here for the hype.
I wish i could afford Naka but my landlord cruelly demands i pay rent.
I want super excellent Yiwu.
I want bitterness that can melt steel.
I like the classics with a twist.
I like it when Qi jumps out of nowhere and stabs me like Arya in the godswood.
I want to know what the thing is like with other things added.
I like innovative blends with challenging character.
I am a millionaire who enjoys a good fight.
I am a millionaire who wants to be draped in the finest silks.
I desire the best blend of high quality tea you can muster.