Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wild Pu erh sun dried buds



I had noticed that Yunnan Sourcing (YS) had some interesting loose teas for sale and my recent order had included some of these teas. The pix above shows wild pu erh sun dried buds. YS described the tea as "These little white buds come from the same plant varietal of camellia tea tree that the 2005 Xiaguan Wild Ancient tea cake comes from. It is a varietal of camellia that grows in Lincang, Baoshan and Dehong area of western Yunnan. The buds are picked in late-march and then sun-dried. The flavor is fresh and a little fruity somewhat similiar to a good white tea but more complex flavors. The brewed liquor is whitish and clear, and there is a hint of fresh pine needles in the aroma"

When I received this order of tea, I had imagined that I will get to brew a pot of wild pu erh in its wildest and raw-est form. It was a surprise when I opened the aluminium foiled bag. I had forgotten about the pix posted by YS. This tea was all buds about 1 cm long with whitish hairs on the buds. YS had classified this tea under the 'white tea' category and I decided to brew this tea as a regular white tea......which for me is to take a pinch of tea, put it in a regular size mug and pour hot water. Surprise....YS was right.....it has taste characteristics of a white tea. I did not detect any raw pu erh tea taste in the brew. Instead, this tea has hints of white silver needles and pai mu tan (white peony) tea with a slight sweet aftertaste. I would recommend this tea to those that favor white teas. A 100g pack which I ordered is a good quantity to start with. Nice.

1 comment:

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