This complimentary sample came from KL Wong of Teapals in an order I placed a few months back.
Mr. Wong tells me that Bang Bing is a mere 15 KM from the famous Bing
Dao. I know 15 Km sounds pretty close in proximity
but if you have actually been to the tea mountains and understand a bit about
terroir, it is really quite far. There are lots of these puerh areas that are
near more famous areas that try to ride off their popularity. In a way this is harmless, but it is equally
deceptive because most of these areas even ones only a few KM away have such
different profiles.
KL also informs me that this cake is now sold out. So I report here only for the purpose of
recording my experience from a cake from Bang Bing, an area that I’ve only
tired blended into Shuangjiang Mengku cakes in the past… please sit down
and join me at the tea table, pals…
The dry leaves smell of very clear high noted sugar notes,
crisp wood and distant dry grasses. The
sweetness is pretty strong.
The first infusion starts off with vegetal tastes which are
barely sweet and bitter.
The second infusion starts with a slightly bitter edge which
has layers of vegetal tastes underneath.
The bitterness is notable and long as it recedes in the aftertaste a
malty sweetness is paired with bitter.
The third infusion starts with a buttery sweetness then
turns quickly to bitter there is a pop of fruit before a cooling wave heralds
in malty sweet tones. The tea liquor
feels reasonably thick there is a bitterness found throughout.
The fifth infusion is much the same as the fourth with a
mainly sweet profile of malty, vegetal, bitter then after the distant coolness
creamy sweetness, tropical fruit, malty sweetness and underlying bitterness
over a soft sticky mouthfeeling. This is
a real nice fairly dry stored sweetness.
The sixth infusion tastes even sweeter with more of a sweet
entry initially, a beautiful buttery thick sweetness which stays throughout. There are some tropical fruits and creamy
sweetnesses that appear in the long sweet aftertaste. The bitterness has significantly reduced but
is still underneath giving this tea much depth.
The saliva in the mouth pools a traps in the aftertastes even minutes
later.
The seventh infusion has a light, juicy fruit mixed with
malty sweet depth onset. The liquid
feels less thick in the mouth in this infusion but still stimulates the throat
nicely. The mouthfeel is grittier now.
The eighth infusion is thick, malty sweet, mild cooling and
long sweetnesses throughout the profile.
There is a creaminess thoughout, some vegetalness. The sweet aftertaste is trapped in the
throat. 9th infusion is the
same, but more pronounced sweetness.
This is a very nice experience, I’m having here.
10th is creamy sweet malty, it turns talc and
slightly floral before transitioning into long sweet tastes. The mouthfeel is really nice here, velvety
coating. The 11th has a
pronounced pungency to it. The taste is
sweet throughout with just edges of astringency and bitter barely presenting
now. The sweetness is very apparent and
very nice. The layers of sweetness is
enjoyable.
12th has a bit of a thinner profile now but has a
long butterschotch sweetness throughout, a touch of coolness, nice tongue
coating. The 13th becomes a
bit sandy in feeling and less substantial.
Just flash steeping it still.
The clock of the day runs out on my session so I put this
guy into an overnight session and awake the next day to some major deliciousness-
thick and sweet and still very nuanced and interesting…
Great tea, very sweet, layered sweet, saliva pushing flavor
up throat action, lots of depth, pure, clean, nice dry storage, good
concentration enhancing Qi, too bad its gone….
I noticed that KL Wong has recently added a few different puerh to his website. From what I’ve tried, he’s worth paying attention to…
Peace
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