DISCLAIMER: Since writing this post, Origin Tea has closed up shop. I am very sad to see them go, and I wish Tony (founder) all the best in the future, which will hopefully involve some tea.

Hey there everyone!

This weeks tea review will focus on another pu’er tea, but this time I thought we would try out a sheng. For those who don’t know, sheng is naturally aged pu’er tea, a bit like a fine wine it develops and usually improves with age. This is a somewhat medium aged tea, not having the qualities of a really old sheng pu’er, but it is smoother, and more developed than young sheng (which is often bitter and freshly fruity in my experience).

This is a 1999 Kunming Red in Red from one of my favourite tea vendors. Origin Tea specialises mainly in Taiwanese oolong teas, such as goashan, but they have a very nice selection of Taiwanese stored pu’er tea, and this particular tea has had dry Hong Kong and Taiwan storage, giving it a clean, sweet, fruity and calming flavour. Origin Tea is a delightful vendor to buy from, very transparent, nothing flashy. It is just straight up, well sourced tea that never disappoints! The customer service is very personal and they are very helpful in recommending teas that cater to your own preferences. Shipping is reasonable and usually efficient. I give Origin Tea 10/10 as a vendor for sure.

I bought 25g of this tea at €9.91 with some other bits and pieces with air parcel shipping at ~€10, arriving in 4 working days (better than EMS from Taiwan!). I was told this was an excellent daily drinker and at that price I would be inclined to agree. This tea arrived over a month ago now, in simple brown packaging, in great condition. Well packaged and stored, on opening this tea is mildly earthy, but mostly has a dried fruit aroma.

Dry leaf is in good condition, in two large pieces as undisturbed as possible for the quantity.

Brewing Parameters

I brewed with 5g of this tea in a 60mL gaiwan. Starting with a 10s rinse + an extra flash rinse to loosen the leaves, I started at 20s for 2 steeps, increased to 40s, 50s, 90s, 120s based on taste.

Wet leaves smell of dried peaches and camphor. A nice and inviting nose that is warm, like a mild autumn evening as the sun sets on orange and red fallen leaves.

Tasting Notes

1. Darkish amber liquor that is very clear. A slow and steady onset, sustaining a mild sweet dried peach and apricot note that lingers in a long, almost juicy finish. Mouth feel is like a light oil, and accompanies the finish to bring out a mouthwatering character that impressed me.

2. Same liquor. Leaves have a tiny bit of earth mixed in with a sweet dried fruit and camphor, a bit like a field of over ripened peaches. Same onset as before, but leading into a bitter sweetness that curtains a slight camphor spice, lengthy finish with a lingering astringency. Interesting.

3. Similar as last steeping, but a stronger sour flavour (a nice sour) in the dried peach and a bolder camphor. Aftertaste is everlasting at this stage, sweet and spicy, and oh so mouthwatering!

4. Very similar, but more astringent.

5. The mouth feel is lovely here, juicy and mouthwatering. Astringent as before.

6. This has a spicy onset that develops into a hard hitting sweet undertone that slowly fades away in a long astringent finish, leaving a somewhat strange mouthwatering sweet aftertaste. This is an intriguing steep, complexity of this tea shining through.

At this point, nothing much was happening, similar flavours gradually getting weaker. I got 8 steeps out of this, but I think if I increased my leaf quantity to 6.5/7g, then this could be pushed to 9 or 10 steepings with bolder flavours throughout.

Qi isn’t overly strong here. It’s a calming tea, because it gives a soft uplifting feel, calming the nerves and broadening the mind in a mild way. Very nice daily pu’er in this sense.

The wet leaf quality is nice and fairly consistent, some broken leaves due to my own clumsy tea cake skills! A few stems, but not a whole lot, leaf size medium to large throughout.

Rating

Price: This is a very reasonable price for a very nice tea. Shipping costs are very nice for the distance, and if bought in a larger than sample size, it’s very reasonable in my opinion. 9/10.

Leaf Quality: I can’t really fault this other than some lonely stems and the odd size inconsistency. Well stored tea, no apparent surface mold, well packaged. 8/10

Liquor Quality: Very clear dark amber, 10/10.

Aroma: Liquor didn’t have much aroma, but that could just be me. The leaves however had a slightly complex aroma that was fairly representative of the taste. Inviting and vivid. 7/10 because I like my tea liquor to accompany the taste with a nice nose, as this tends to heighten the experience. Perhaps this is why the taste was very mild throughout. Experimenting needed on leaf quantity.

Taste: This is a nice, mild, clean tea. It has a certain complexity, and it develops over the session, but this development is rather 2 dimensional. Sweet dried fruits, camphor and spice. Fluctuating astringency, and a nice mouth feel accompany a mouthwatering aftertaste that makes this tea what it is. I think 5g was airing on the side of too much caution, so perhaps this tea will show off a bolder side in future sessions. For now, it’s a solid 7.5/10, with the hopes that I can pull on some bolder flavours, and then get some really interesting session development. Excellent daily drinker that could be even better in future.

The overall Robs Bits and Blogs on Tea Rating for Origin Tea’s 1999 Kunming Factory Red in Red Pu’er is 83/100 as a very nice daily drinking sheng pu’er.

I would highly recommend snatching up some of this stuff, even just as a sampler! It can be found here: http://www.origintea.net/pu-erh-tea/1999-kunmning-red-in-red

That’s all for now. I’m hoping to keep this at least one post per week, maybe not always a review. Please contact me if you have any particular teas you want reviewed, and remember to comment on this review with feedback, questions and your own impressions/preferences. Like, share and subscribe too, it would really help me out! Follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robsbitsoftea for up to the minute updates!

My next review will hopefully deviate away from pu’er, as I’m currently giving the impression that this is all I drink! I have some nice Japanese tea on the way, so look out for that.

Have a nice weekend everyone, and happy brewing!