Monday, October 3, 2022

2019 Puerh.uk “Guo Gan”: Excellently Ethereal

 Got this free sample from Paolo of puerh.uk…. I have no clue what this puerh is so I’m going in sort of blind here… Dry leaves smell of a faint woody sweetness…

First infusion has a watery clear faint sugar melon sweetness with a nice long cool sugar finish. Clear like a pond. Watery mouthfeeling.

Second infusion has a melon sugar watery clear onset with a bit of faint wood.  Clear watery sweet tastes. Cool long faint aftertaste in the deeper throat.

Third infusion has a pungent coolness woody sort of root veggies clear sweet sugar onset with a bit of gripping mouthfeeling.  This infusion reminds me of Nannou region here.  Stronger Qi is deeply pooling in the chest.



The fourth infusion has a pop of woody sugar fruity taste.  Nice vibrant pop and clear tastes with a bit of gripping and nice mouthfeeling that pulls the flavor out in a singular fashion.  The mouthfeeling is simultaneously gripping and stimulating but also clear and thin… sort of interesting.  Long cooling throat with sweet sugar. Qi is strong in a building up sense in the Chest and diaphragm with light airy limbs.  Mildly expansive mind. 

5th infusion has a woody melon candy pop of initial taste there is this mouth pucker and long cool deep throat feeling. Strong Qi builds in the Heart.  Limbs are light mild is expansive.  Really nice experience here with everything.  Ascending feeling in the body.  Long deep candy throat reminds me of Yiwu now.

6th is left to cool and gives off a fruity punch with quick moving bitterness.  Nice mouth stimulation with long sweetness candy like and deep in throat. Very nice strong Heart clumping and limb airiness.  The quick moving bitterness and candy reminds me of LaoBanZhang… do I dare say it! This is really nice puerh.  Flavour, mouthfeeling, aftertaste, throatfeeling, bodyfeeling, Qi… the whole package is quite nice.

7th has a clear melon sweet candy-like burst with quick moving mild bitterness in a simulating mouthfeeling with long cool deep throat aftertaste turns to candy.  Strong Heart clumping with limb lightness and expanding consciousness.

8th has a nice pop of melon, sugar, can11dy sweet there is a thin veil of woody even mild bitter pop but a long sweet candy finish.  Heart pooling and lightness in the body with expansive mind.

9th has a melon woody pop that has a candy nuance and more candy in the aftertaste.  Very clear flavours and movement with pop and release type of taste.  A bit of gripping mouthfeeling that has a sort of initial gripping then release with some throat stimulation now.

10th The next day I come back to the pot and am greeted with really fruity sweet pure tropical pop of flavours.  There is this vibrant pop of sweet taste and long candy like finish. 

11th is left to cool and has peachy fruity clear onset with clear pops of initial tastes …



I get a handful of more excellent infusions out of this one!  As I said above … This is really nice puerh.  Flavour, mouthfeeling, aftertaste, throatfeeling, bodyfeeling, Qi… the whole package is quite nice.  I had a really good experience here…

Thanks Paolo for sending it.  I wonder if Paolo will offer it?  It will be a bit pricey me thinks???

Peace

4 comments:

Paolo said...

Guo Gan, also known as Ko Kang, it's in Myanmar, but this was made by a taiwanese friend.

Since it's way outside banna it's actually pretty affordable

I'm currently debating with myself whether to just offer the 2017 guo gan (from the same producer) which I think is even better, or also the 2019 too, I'll keep this review in mind

Peace

Peter said...

It would make more sense to label the tea as Kokang,which is well known as Myanmar's premier region for ancient tea groves. Its a little sinocentric to use the Chinese name.

Matt said...

Paolo,

Thanks for sending this one… I think the blind tasting speaks for itself! I have never tried Myanmar puerh before and you can see me struggling to pin it down in the notes above. Should offer this one.

Peace

Matt said...

Peter,

Thank you for your further elaboration here.

Much peace