Denong Brick from Bana Tea Company
From 2006′ autumn harvest comes this ripe pu-erh tea, a wonderfully smooth tea with one dominant flavour: almonds.
I have Linda from Bana Tea Company to thank for this lovely sample (disclosure: Bana Tea Company is an advertiser on Tea Finely Brewed). It’s the fourth tea from Bana Tea Company that I have reviewed here, and again it’s an impressive, high-quality pu-erh.
Denong brick is included in loose form in Bana’s sampler set, which is how I received it. You can also buy it in brick form ($18 for a 250 gram brick).
As I mentioned at the outset, this tea is dominated by the flavour of almonds. But it doesn’t have the sharpness or mouth-drying quality that nutty teas often seem to have; instead, it’s very, very smooth ? calming, in its way. I was briefly reminded of vanilla, though this is a much subtler flavour. Also subtle is the hint of apples that starts to emerge with later infusions, balancing out the almond flavour.
After writing my notes on this tea, I thought I would take a look at what I wrote about Bana Tea Company’s Denong Wild Ripe Pu-erh, which is a wild-grown pu-erh tea. It struck me just how similarly I described the wild denong: it had “flavours of almonds”, a “smooth, almost delicate body” and a “refreshing effect on the mouth”. While the cultivated pu-erh doesn’t seem to be as complex as the wild-grown pu-erh, it is nevertheless remarkable to read how similar the two teas are.
Denong Pu-erh Brick is available from Bana Tea Company.
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