Finding the Tea Qi- 2020 Yunnan Sourcing “Aged Bu Lang Mountain” Raw Pu’erh Tea Cake

Didn’t get to tasting until after dinner. Dim lights at the dinner table, just me and the Little Tea Venerable, digging in to the Pu'erh. I am taking a totally different tack tonight. Tea, I am told, is a vibes based hobby. But here I am with my little espresso scale and counting the seconds for the steep… is this vibes? It is not. 

How much tea went in the pot? Enough, I hope. I put in what felt right. This tea cake was a million times better than the last one, practically falling apart with a gentle tug. This did have a pleasant dried tea aroma in the bag. I’m starting to identify what I would call the smell of age. A sort of pleasant mustiness. 

First steep- I must be doing something right with the quantities. The color is rich and amber. There is a nice taste of tea, and a tiny hint of menthol on the exhale. I’m getting a bit of that smooth mouthfeel I’m starting to associate with aged raw Pu’erh, though I do wonder if it’s the clay pot and clay cup. They say they take the rough edge off some bitter teas. Dunno about that. It gets unpleasantly tannic fast as it cools. Me and the Little Venerable will take it as it comes.

Second steep is giving me a hint of smoke. Just on the nose, something lightly smoky and pleasant. A very gentle flavor of tea, not aggressive or assertive at all. Great mouthfeel, though it does run bitter fast. Still, so far this is probably my favorite of the teas this week. Just… nice. The light is coming from a wicker covered overhead pendant lamp, giving everything a dim, somewhat orangy glow. It makes the tea a deeper, richer red. I’m getting the tea tannin, I’m getting the flavor of the tea-as-tea. I’m feeling how the tea liquor coats my mouth. Not the most syrupy, but the texture is noticeable, and nice. 

Returning sweetness? Maybe. It’s subtle, if that is what it is. 

Third Steep- Slightly longer steep, and I used water a few degrees shy of a full boil. It was hotter than a simmer, but not as violent a boil as when it hits max temperature. I’m getting a musty tea aroma, and that standard Raw Pu’erh flavor. Tannins creeping in around the edges. My mouth waters afterward. Really waters, I can understand why people like Pu’erh with meals. It wants to be drunk in glugs, not sips. The tea liquor cools fast, even with the clay insulation. Glugging is possible. I salute the Little Tea Venerable, and drink deep. 

It’s not the most delicious tea I have ever drunk, but there is something about that action, the lifting and the drinking deep, that is warming something deep within me. Smoky tobacco, but not bitter- pipe tobacco, maybe, or the smell of unlit cigars. 

Have you ever taken the time to experience a cigar, even if you don’t want to smoke it? You should. Pick it up and smell it. Roll it between your fingers and feel the leaves wrapping the densely rolled leaves within. Smell it. Smell the richness of it, the warmth of it. Hear that crackle of the leaves between your fingers. 

Take a moment to savor the experience. 

Damn. This really is a vibes based hobby. 

Steep Four- Full boil this time, nearly scalded my lip. A short steep too. The liquor is still crystal clear, and has fine white ‘hairs’ floating in it. It seems this is a very good, and very well preserved, tea. Not much on the nose, a bit of that pleasantly aged smell. It is definitely sweeter with the short steep. Noticeably sweeter, almost fruity. Absolutely wild, I didn’t get even a hint of that on the earlier steeps. It definitely does not want to be sipped. I’m genuinely fascinated by this.

I’m persuaded by the vibes based argument. It is a mistake approaching it like coffee with precise requirements for process. A scale is useful so I can remember what I have liked before, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the moment.

Like a lot of Americans of my generation, I don’t consider myself a non-drinker, I just don’t drink alcohol. I lost my taste for it, and getting drunk stopped being fun in my twenties. But when I was drinking, BOY HOWDY did I drink! Wine, whisky, vodka, beer, I went at ‘em hard. Sometimes drinking to get drunk, sometimes trying to savor the moment. 

This Pu’erh, at this moment, feels like ordering a Manhattan when I was in Manhattan on business. I was sitting at the bar of an expense-account hotel, wearing a made to measure wool suit and fine leather shoes, watching the cocktail waitresses in their short dresses and practiced smiles and just… feeling the moment. Knowing that there was nowhere I had to be the next morning and just relaxing into the drink. Tasting the corners of it and seeing how it all fit together with that place and that time and me.

It was a mediocre Manhattan, but a good Manhattan moment. I don’t know if this is good Pu’erh. But it’s a good Pu’erh moment.

Steep Five- Still clear, still a rich gold, the tea is leading with a hit of menthol cool, though the tea flavor is very mild. It still has a really pleasant texture to it. As it develops in the cup, I’m getting a bit more of the leaf, a distinct vegetal taste. The smoke starts to come in on the back of the palate, and the tannins dry out the mouth. I’m not getting the juice this time, but it is still very pleasant. 

I’m going to make a special note of this one, and look for more teas from this mountain. It’s good stuff.

Alas, like all good things, this tea journal must come to an end, at least for a while. I’m flying back to the worst weather of the winter from my tropical retreat, and the next few weeks are going to be a brutal grind of writing, editing and the sorts of household chores that seem to eat up hours without visible results. There won’t be time for a tea blog, though I will certainly make time for tea. 

Did I identify Tea Qi? I did not. What I did find is a path. I built my skills with intention and focus, found a tea that I really enjoyed, and most importantly, I found a new way to experience the making and drinking of tea. 

I have really enjoyed this week of tea exploration. Thank you for joining me on it. The Little Tea Venerable and I will keep exploring raw Pu’Erh together… possibly joined by a new companion? But that will be a story for another day.