Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: varied greens and browns, compressed
Ingredients: puerh tea
Steep time: 30 degrees
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: gold

I was a bit sad to discover that this was the last sheng puerh sample in my “to review” pile from Wymm Tea. Thankfully there is still one last shou left to savor until I’m able to place an order. I know I’ve mentioned this before (like every time I’ve written about one of their teas), but I absolutely adore the mulberry paper that their tea is wrapped in. It’s just so soft and it smells amazing! This tea hails from Jingmai in Southwestern Yunnan province. It was harvested in 2011 and pressed in 2013. I always like to see both dates listed for puerh tea because they are equally important. The taste was surprisingly floral. There were notes of orchid that I would definitely have only expected from an oolong. A welcome level of astringency tempered the natural sweetness that might have been too cloying otherwise. I did at least 10 consecutive infusions before running out to run some errands. Later that evening I squeezed out a few more so these leaves definitely had a lot to give. This tea is a bit pricey but if I had $300 to blow on a cake of tea, this would definitely be one that I’d buy. I’ve visited Wymm Tea’s website many times before and only just now noticed that there is a music section. How cool is that? To my delight there are four albums with selections ranging from Yunnan folk songs to Chinese classical music.

Jingmai Sheng 2013 First Spring sample provided by Wymm Tea.