For the month of July one fell off the tea blogging world and into the world of moving a life to a different region of the country. During this time no tea blogs were read. This happens to work out quite nicely because the blind tea tastings called "the Yunnan Sourcing Event" put on by Hobbes of The Half-Dipper was not spoiled. Over the next month expect an onslaught of blind puerh tastings from this event.
The dry leaves smell of very deep rich forest. There are creamy-sweet and salty odours that emit from the leaves they are piercing enough to leave a pleasant tickle in the nose. The smells are deep, fresh, and very foresty.
The first infusion is light with a very soft frosty-sugary initial taste and a light nutty-grain forest base resting underneath. The aftertaste drifts into sweeter, white sugar with delicate very light florals. The mouthfeel is thin and is felt mainly on the tongue.
The second is a much more balanced affair with surgry-creamy sweet notes mixing with deeper forest notes in the initial taste. The flavour is light and ends is a candy sweetness that tastes like rock candy but is teathered down by deeper but still light forest tastes. These tastes fill the tongue and mouth only touching a bit in the upper throat but leaving a light sweetness there. The qi is also fine and light. It pools in the stomach slightly making it somewhat heavy and distended.
The third infusion delivers a grainy slightly flat tasting initial taste. It finishes with a soapy-foresty, slightly rubbery sweetness. It is actually like a light edge of sweetness surrounded by these deeper tastes. The feeling is still mainly residing in the mouth. The mind explodes with jittery energy now and the distended stomach feeling disappears- the qi feels nice here.
In the fourth infusion is a thicker, soupier, slightly grassy-grainy, more bound together taste. Most of its sweetness is gone and just shows very light edges in the aftertaste. Its taste is simple, somewhat bland, deeper, gainy-grassy. There is a soapy-deep flowery notes that passes quickly between the initial- and aftertastes. A slight grainy-soapy-flat floral taste lingers a minute later.
The fifth infusion is a slightly heavy, slightly flat bitter sweetness. It has a woody-forest base which is strong, a slight bitter as well. Lighter notes drowned under the heavy taste and only share a small, unnoticeable edge in the aftertaste.
The sixth infusion delivers a mix of muted-sugary-bitter sweetness over a bland wood-forest base. The mainly bitter and barely sweet edge stays in the mouth minutes later.
The seventh is much of the same but carries a subtle smooth pear fruit taste in there as well. It is predominantly this bitter, foresty, barely sweet taste though.
Guess: 2013 Yunnan Sourcing Ai Lao- because of its lack of bitterness, slight floral nose and mainly Si Mao/ Jinggu base taste.
Actual: 2013 Yunnan Sourcing Xiang Ming
Peace
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