Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wang Mingyi Zen Brick 2007


Looking back to my tasting notes, I found that I have more than 4 different styles developed over the years (my first style). I don't know which one I prefer or my audiences prefer, perhaps it depends on the tea? The latest style was "borrow" after the modern bible of puerh tea by Mr. Tang. I like the to-the-point and in-short information format, listing all the most important elements during a tea judging process in China.

I wish to start a regular tea tasting report on more popular tea here (hopefully once a week?), so that I could build a good tasting archive, and a 'reference base' to share with other Tea Passagers.

Hmmm... what tea should I start to dedicate to the idea? A more unusual one I think, thanks to Brian for his kind gifts: A Wang Mingyi Zen Brick from zenandtea.com.



6.5g in 120 ml pot. Crab eyes boiling.
30s rinse. 1 min rest.
30s steep. 2 min rest to 2nd brew.
3 min steep and push on 3rd brew.
Overnight brew on 4th.

It's an interesting puerh. More like a red puerh than raw pu. The high oxidation process completely changed the natural flavor of a lincang. Frankly, it is something I have to get used to.... very much like another cake I had in the same process:


Personal notes:
I think this process might be too rough on the mao cha, exhausting the essence of its natural characters thru high oxidation, making it flat, aired-out and one dimension. Hope that this is not the trend for puerh to come, the result was a easier to drink raw puerh. Down side is it changes the profile of the tea. Maybe aging could have a different outcome, adding back the complexity?.... but then what's the point?

2 comments:

Trent said...

Tim, when I first read your review, I was perplexed. The brick you describe sounded vastly different from them brick I have. Your review surprised me so much that I decided to brew the tea again. Strangely enough... it tasted exactly as you described.

Maybe the high oxidation hastens the aging process? Somehow... the flavor profile VASTLY changed within the span of 1 or 2 years. The brick I had a few years ago was vegetal and fruity.

Anonymous said...

Overnight brew on the final steeping. I'd like to try that myself. With Puer it'll work and maybe even with some Oolongs. I'll have to see about that. --Jason

 
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.