Tea bonanza

By contrast I’ve also ordered a box of various aged puer samples from Nadacha (and some excitingly affordably yixing clay jars):


I’ve started the exploration with a black tea from Nada:

The 2009 Fengqing Wai Shi Li is a high-grade spring flush from the Fengqing Tea Factory (and more specifically their Dianhong brand) who are classic producer of both black tea and (more recently) puer. It’s fairly inexpensive at £6 / 100g, and I also very much like Nada’s wabi-sabi packaging:

Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 3g/140ml
Dry leaf: Rather small leaves with a degree of golden tips but overall colour is darkish. Aroma is typically Yunnan and very hongcha: earthy, herby, rather unfruity, not terribly complex or deep; perhaps a bit of smokiness. No increase in intensity as the leaf is warmed.

Tasting notes:
45s: The profile of this brew is best described as ‘traditional’. It has a subdued aroma dominated by earth and smoke, with no fruit frills. The nose might be unremarkable but the flavoury is very good, with medium body and a less oblivious oxidation than I expected from the nose. Hardly a lot of complexity or poise but this is good for the price. I might have been just lucky with the brewing parameters as this is showing a perfect balance of tannins and body. Really quite traditional: rather solid and oxidised, less fruity than many modern examples of black Yunnan but more consistent and solid.