2007 White Bud 250g Sheng Pu-Erh Tea Cake

I have just finished off my second thermos full of the 2007 White Bud Sheng Puerh from Norbu (a private production cake which is now sold out). This was a typical thermos brewing—working with the kamjove ‘gongfu art’ brewing thingie, flash rinse, starting brewing with water even before it quite hit boiling, having to stop and start several times over an hour and half as other work kept pulling me out of the office, and finally ending up with a brilliant thermos of tea, subtly smoky, sweet, with a warm background of caramel. Just soothing and calming and oh so good. And as is usual for this tea, a little went a long way—maybe 5 grams-8 grams for a 1 quart thermos full, then resteeped for a second full batch. Fortunately, I have several more beengs of this in reserve. Heh.

Let it be said that the ability to describe the tastes of sheng puerhs has always evaded me, like those dreams that seemed so pleasant but you can’t really remember just what they were about. All the roasty-toasty oolong vocabulary just doesn’t work. So my task now is destined to fail, but must nevertheless be undertaken. Because this white-bud sheng from Norbu, which I tasted for the first time today, produces a pretty amazing experience.
Routine brewing in a tiny pot. First sip seems to make a small explosion in my mouth, like the tastes are shooting sideways across my palate and tongue. I taste steamed yellow squash, very precisely. But almost none of the characteristic sheng camphor. There’s something else that I can’t quite say: maybe caramel, yes, or maybe really good whole wheat toast eaten outside near a honeysuckle bush? But the amazing thing is how sweet and how full the nectar is. Does tea have sugars in it like wine or milk?
Second infusion. I think I actually shivered. Second infusion is even better. Camphor just whispers but not medicinal like other shengs. This one would be undetectable except that it’s camphor wrapped in sugar. And the liquid is now even richer. A tiny bit of earthiness, not loamy like old puerth, just fresh earth and a tiny pinch of grass clippings.
I think it does an injustice to say this is a good starter puerh; I think you have to have struggled with sheng first to see how different this is. I look forward to more time with this.
But… I have only a small sample. And Norbu is out of it (lifts the back of his hand to his forehead and sighs). The stuff of dreams.

Throughout my pu erh adventures of late, I’ve been hoping to find a sheng that was transporting, one I could write rapturously about. But none of the ones I’ve tasted have reached that level. They’ve all been good, just not rapturously good.

Enter this tea.

I knew something unique was about to happen when I sniffed the dry leaves and smelled Snickerdoodle.

I rinsed just over 2.5g in the gaiwan and let it sit for a while, then steeped at boiling for 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60

The first couple of steeps were interesting, but not rapturously so. The first was a pale yellow (the color got more intense though didn’t change hue with subsequent steeps) and had a sort of medicinal smell, which I gather is what people refer to as camphor. Fortunately, it did not taste medicinal. It tasted slightly sweet, slightly nutty, and slightly vegetal, but mostly what I noticed was the smooth, soft mouthfeel.

The second steep had a savory-brothy smell and tasted smooth and vegetal.

The third steep is where it went rapturous. All of a sudden, a suggestion of coffee. And then toffee.

And then a sideways step on the fourth steep to melon. Honeydew.

Then back to coffee, toffee and — cocoa! Where it remained through all the remaining steeps.

Very delicious, very bizarre — it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a tea that is this light in color can have these confectionery flavors. But it did.

And that’s why it’s rapturous. Of course, it was a limited edition and once it is gone, it is gone.

Figures.