Treasures from Five Mountains: Vintage 2008 Raw Pu-Erh Tea from Bana Tea Company
Pu-erh tea, Tea reviews
I’ve been writing about tea for almost a year, and drinking it for much longer than that, but sometimes I still feel like a kid in a candy shop full of sweets he’s never tried. There is an almost never-ending variation in the world of tea. How one tree can yield such an immense array of flavours never ceases to amaze me.
Within this world of teas is pu-erh tea, itself a wild and varied beast. My dabbling in pu-erh has so far consisted of a couple of loose leaf pu-erhs, a small brick and a mini green tuocha that, according to a much more experienced pu-erh aficionado, isn’t green at all. But I am very thankful to Linda from Bana Tea Company (a current advertiser on Tea Finely Brewed), who has graciously sent me a sampling of her pu-erhs, along with plenty of advice on how best to prepare them. Today, I turn to her Treasures from Five Mountains, a 2008 vintage, early spring harvest pu-erh tea.
Right off the bat, it’s clear that this is unlike any pu-erh I’ve had before. It infuses into a golden soup, suggesting to me that this is going to be far milder than previous pu-erhs I’ve tasted, which tend to brew into a very dark tea.
As anticipated, this tea has a milder taste — the earthiness that dominates other pu-erhs is faint here. Instead, this tea is marked by a sharp nutty flavour. It’s astringent and mouth-drying, but leaves me feeling warm and nourished. There is just a wonderful sense of wholesomeness after drinking this.
I enjoy three infusions of this, the last of which I enjoy the most, perhaps down to the fact that I used water that had cooled to 65º C. I’ve no doubt I could have re-infused these beautiful leaves at least a couple more times, but responsibility calls and I’m due to go to work.
Treasures from Five Mountains is available from Bana Tea Company on its own ($28 for a 200 gram brick) or as part of their $10 sampler pack, which features 7 of their pu-erhs teas.
