the_skua steeps

For me, one of the great joys of the internet is access to information and communities I would not be able to otherwise engage actively without frequent travel. The tea world has generated a fantastic and rich internet community, making my “remote learning” of tea possible and enjoyable. In a way, Hobbes touches on this topic in his recent post on “Special Single-Mountain Maocha,” discussing that learning through repetition happens faster with a guide, than it does unsupervised. I am grateful to have this internet community as a guide through the tangly world of tea.

Old reliable, Hobbes. One might think his is the only tea blog I ever read. While this is certainly not the case, it was difficult not to find a new nugget when reviewing his notes from today’s tea. He makes light of the fact that many teas get two sessions before a post formulates, saying:

“…notes are based on two separate sessions with the same tea, as is my current habit, in order to provide representative notes. I often find variance between sessions, usually based on differences in my own nature when I come to the tea-table: some days calm and bright; some days tired and looking for some refreshment. This affects how I receive each tea.”

Our palates are dynamic, easily fatigued, and subject to daily whims and experience. Drawing from the Book of Hobbes, I came to the tea table this morning for a fresh, second session of this tea, having had my first session yesterday. This morning, I am half-awake, the sun is out, and I’m a bit irritable. Yesterday, I was well-slept, peaceful, serene, supremely relaxed, and a calming gray blanket of clouds and rain covered me. The difference in my own nature has affected my perception of this tea.

Honestly, I am not sure if I have ever had a puerh that has claimed to be mostly tippy material, as this does. I am sure, however, that it has an impact on flavor and texture. Yesterday, this tea was plain, simple, a bit shallow, but solid and reasonable. Today, it comes across as slippery, mineral heavy, and metallic. It carries a green tea-like dryness and brightness to it, lacking thick, syrupy stickiness.

Aroma and flavor are middling, green, and lightly floral. The finish has poor grip. Unexciting would be one way to frame this tea. Another might be to say that it would be a good intro puerh for Chinese green tea devotees. I think I’m more of a big leaf man, myself. Regardless, I am excited to compare it to the Mu Ye Chun 002, which supposedly has a larger leaf composition. I’ll visit it later this week, coming to the tea table for two sessions, on two different days, with two different natures.

REFERENCES

The Half-Dipper - 2007 Shuangjiang Mengku “Muyechun 001″

Tags: 2007, pu'er, sheng

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 at 9:05 AM and is filed under pu'er, sheng. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.