2016 Puerh.uk Ethereal: Harmonious, Deep, Complex,

I got this 2016 Puerh.uk Ethereal (approx 464.00 for 357 g cake or $1.30/g) this as a complimentary sample with purchase a year or so ago.  This is sourced from the same producer as the 2020 Fu Shun Gao (Legacy) “The Beast” (and another I like the 2014 Puerh.uk Green Mark Meng Sa) which I will drank back to back and will post next.  I use the term ethereal a fair bit when describing very subtle but complex gentle puerh and I wonder if this namesake will resemble my own concept of what makes a puerh an “ethereal” puerh.  I really enjoyed Alex’s review of this puerh especially his commentary on the nerdy aspects of puerh appreciation… he gets into “ethereal” a bit there.

Dry leaves smell of sweet raisin fresh plum woody.

Rinsed leaves have a sweet plum/ raisin odour.

First infusion has a watery clear taste with sweet icing sugar custard taste with a distant woody bitterness. Sticky mouthfeel.  Long lingering cool pure sugar.  

Second has a plum raison pungent taste sort of faint woody in background. Cooled down it has a raisin sweet onset with expanding sweet layers of sugar, golden sugar, and custard that build into a long sweet taste.  Chest unraveling feeling.  With gentle ease mind high feeling.  Sticky mouthfeel.  Calm visual acuity focusing.

Third infusion has a brassy sweet plum raison there is a nice return of layered sweet tastes.  Creamy custard, sugar, brown sugar.  Oily mouthfeeling.  Long lingering sweet taste with spacy gentle mind easing with sharp vision engaged.  Calm visual acuity and floating bodyfeeling.  Tastes like possibly Lincang or Manghai area… but not sure exactly…

Fourth infusion has an oily sweet taste of sugar/ custard with the oily mouth feeling getting more substantial with each infusion.  There is some faint background woody with sticky mouthfeel that is becoming subtly dry.  Mind spacy with arms light and airy and chest unraveling bodyfeel with some floating body!  Contemplation mind with stillness and visual acuity sharpening.

Fifth is left to cool and it gives off a sour sweet oily woody taste.  Sweet finish.  Spacy high with some face tingling.  Sugar with some background woody raison/plum.  Taste like Lincang maybe?

Sixth infusion has a woody raisin sugar onset .  Oily chalky mouthfeel with slight sour orange in the distance reminds me a lot of Lincang.  Long gentle sweet taste.  Face tingles and arms airy. Focusing and relaxing.  Chest slight swelling feeling.

Seventh has a sour mild bitter sweet infusion in an oily mouth.  Sweet layer taste more orange peel subtle sour now something I get from Lincang and sometimes Northern Menghai regions.  Slight bitterness woody slight almost but not really coco.  Relaxing focus with heart opening chest feeling is unique and deeply powerful!

8th has an oily sweet onset with woody sour bland slight mild bitterness.  Orange peel woody coco.  Slight with sweet finish.  Relaxing focus with unique chest feeling.  Woody bland almost bitterness left in the mouth.

9th is long mug… is woody oily and a bit bitter… overnight… it’s an oily woody bittersweet with slight bitter orange peel and bitter dry woody.  

Overnight infusion of spent leaves is oily with a sweet sugar taste.  Long bring sweet mild taste.

This one is all about that amazing Qi experience- it’s really good. However I’ve had puerh much more ethereal before….. this one has a wonderful deeper complexity and balance to it that those that I consider more “ethereal” would lack.  Overall, this one is more complex and harmonious and deep than ethereal I guess which is definitely not a bad thing.  I like the session and enjoyed the Qi experience a lot!

Peace