Mangnuo Cane Tea Raw Pu-erh (Ancient Tree Early Spring 2014) from Wymm Tea

MangnuoCaneTea1Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Pu-erh

Where to Buy:  Wymm Tea

Tea Description:

This is Wymm’s signature tea. It is a sheng pu-erh that brews bright golden with a rich and sweet flavour, and with the aroma of fresh-cut grass in the morning. For the initial 6 steeps, there is a pronounce bitter taste that lingers in back of the tongue with hints of astringency, which are slowly replaced with a bold honey aftertaste. The liquor is heady because of the ultra concentrated nutrients in this tea. Each serving of this tea can be steeped up to 20 times.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Good stuff!  This Mangnuo Cane Tea Raw Pu-erh (Ancient Tree Early Spring 2014) from Wymm Tea is really nice.

I’m only on my first cup at the moment, but I’m really enjoying the strong sugary notes to this cup.  I taste subtle notes of grass and a light astringency.  It has a pleasant, light flavor overall, with the most forward notes tasting sweet – like something in between a sugary molasses and honey.

My second infusion was even nicer than the first.  The sweet notes seem to be even stronger.  I’m picking up on some delicate floral notes.  The astringency is still there and it seems to be developing.  There is a distinct dry note toward the finish.  Vegetal notes are more defined now too, with a slight bitterness toward the finish.  Not an off-putting bitterness, but more of a savory bitterness to contrast with the sugary sweet notes.

My third infusion was very much like the second.  The fourth infusion was my favorite – the flavors became smoother and I found the astringency starting to wane.  It wasn’t quite as sweet, but there was a nice balance between sweet, hints of bitter and light grassy tones.  It was really quite pleasant.

The fifth infusion was pleasantly mellow.  Sweet and refreshing taste.  Hints of grass but very little bitterness.  Just smooth, mellow sweetness.  Later infusions began to pick up on the astringency again and since I’m not a big fan of the astringency, especially with such a mellow tea, I decided to stop with seven infusions.

Overall, a very pleasant pu-erh.  I liked that it didn’t have a strong, earthy character nor was I experiencing a briny or fishy sort of flavor.  Just a really pleasant vegetal note and some really remarkable sweet tones.  It’s quite nice.