Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: varied greens, loosely compressed
Ingredients: puerh tea
Steep time: 30 seconds
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: bright gold
There a lot of teas waiting in the wings to be written about and shared with you all. I think the ones I feel most guilty about are my the ones from Jalam Teas. There is an entire drawer full of little cakes just waiting for their moment to shine. Most recently this Zhang Lang called my name. It was harvested in the summer of 2014 near Bada Mountain. The leaves were fairly large and mostly whole. They turned out a bit of a weird green color in the pictures (maybe due to lighting?) but it didn’t really look quite so mossy in person. I was surprised at how smooth this tea was, especially for a young sheng.
One of the first things I noticed was a nice returning sweetness that really made my mouth water. This effect is known as hui guan and it is one of the things that I enjoy most about raw puerh. The taste was vegetal and slightly grassy with hints of dried straw that ended in a sweet and floral finish. The second infusion brought big burnt honey notes that lingered in each cup until the leaves were just about finished.
There was some astringency but it never bordered into unpleasant territory. That says a lot since their recommended 8g of leaf can be a lot for some teas. I usually prefer gongfu brewing methods for puerh but I can confirm that this one performed equally well in a western style travel mug.
As always, I found myself eagerly taking in the beautiful pictures and detailed information on Jalam Teas’ website about this tea. The connection to the people who produce each tea is a really important part of the experience for me. I know I’ve said it before but I cannot recommend their subscription service enough if you are looking to dive into the world of puerh. It’s all their fault that I’ve become so obsessed with this stuff!
Zhang Lang Sheng sample provided by Jalam Teas.
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