Sunday, April 13, 2008

2006 Puwen Nannuo "Four Good Words"


This mini-beeng(250g) appears to be almost as buddy as yesterday's Chunming. A few more leaves, and the buds don't look as scrumptious. The cake is more solid than the buddy Chunming, but it still easily breaks apart with the hand. This one is deemed to be Nannuo leaf, made by Puwen factory.

The smell as the leaf hits the preheated gaiwan is very much the same, strong odor of hay. The wet leaf looks a lot more green, and more leaf than bud. The color is light amber.


1st infusion, after one rinse. The taste has a strong hay, dead grass body. There's a warm and silky texture that lingers on the tongue.

2nd infusion is rather bitter after only maybe a 5-second infusion. Still sweet, hay-like. Silky texture, and sweet aftertaste.

3rd Infusion. Again astringent after only a flash-infusion. This tea is real young, and quite harsh. I used enough leaf to just about fill the gaiwan. Because of this tea's young character, I think it would be better with less leaf, enough to fill about half of the gaiwan.


I think in about 5 years, this one will be very nice, but for now, it's going to the shelf. The leaf does look good, and the strong hay and astringency give me the feeling that it will age well, so I'll keep my faith in this one.

2 comments:

Salsero said...

That sounds like a lot of leaf for a young pu! You are a brave man. If you acquire enough similar stuff, you might want to start drinking it grandpa style or at least using less leaf. But also, I think that astringency might lead to a great aged taste. Most of the age puerhs I have tasted actually have less astringency that I would like.

I wonder if being a Nannuo has something to do with the astringency/bitterness? Nannuo is a mountain, isn't it?

Wes Crosswhite said...

yaya, nannuo is the mountain. I agree completely with what you say about bitterness and aging. I think the tea does deserve another go with less leaf, and perhaps slightly cooler water. We shall see.