2003 Wild Yi Wu Raw Puerh

At the risk of this blog becoming one long list of Jing products here is a review of their Wu Yi Raw Puerh. Puerh is a tea I first encountered in Yunnan, in 1997, where you can buy it in cakes known as tuocha. These are bowl-shaped blocks of compressed tea often impressed with Chinese characters. I was intrigued at the time and bought a couple to drink and to give as presents. While I enjoyed the tea I did not have the knowledge or experience to know what to make of it. Since then I had not seen it sold here in the UK and I mostly forgot all about it. Now, thanks to companies like Jing, it is relatively easy to get hold of so I decided to give it a try.

Puerh is special because it is supposed to be made with leaves from wild bushes which are then processed according to one of two different methods depending on whether it is being made into raw or cooked/fermented tea. After firing it is compressed into cakes and then left to age by properly storing it so that it will ripen and develop its distinctive flavours. There are different vintages and the older the tea the more expensive it becomes. This leads to trading and investment in puerh tea in a similar way that people invest in good quality wine. Interest in puerh, both in China and beyond, has grown massively as puerh teas are becoming increasingly well known and profitable although they must be stored properly. See Wikipedia article for a good overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu_erh.

Puerh tea has also been championed for various health benefits, such as aiding digestion and weight loss but I am not aware of any scientific study into this.

This tea was purchased as a 10g sample, which is about enough for two pots, although it should be pointed out that the tea can be infused 6 or 7 times. This provides a lot of tea but it should be drunk in a single sitting so it is best to be prepared and to have the time to sit back and properly enjoy this tea in order to get the most from it.

As the name implies this tea was picked in 2003 and has been ripened since as a raw, rather than a cooked, or fermented, puerh. The sample came of a selection taken from a larger block and carefully packed in the standard vacuum sealed Jing bag. 

The first brew produced a strong, smoky scent followed by sweet incense, like sandalwood. The flavour is very woody with a heavy, rich taste. Further sips revealed an underlying sweetness with a floral taste. Through it all is a heavy tobacco flavour, like a nice cigar, but not nearly as unpleasant as that sounds. By the fourth and fifth brewing the taste had mellowed but still full, becoming more like a very peaty whisky.

This is the first pu erh tea I have tried to review and so I have little frame of reference or preference to place it in. It is an interesting drink and brings out a complexity of flavours that the inexperienced would not expect from tea. It will certainly lead me on to try others as soon as I can.

2003 Wild Yi Wu Raw Puerh can be purchased from Jing Tea here:
http://jingtea.com/tea/puerh-tea/2003-wild-yi-wu-raw-puerh