Let the Tea Decide -- 2017 Mountain Oasis from Denong
This morning, I wanted to have a tea session with a shou puerh. I feel like I'm finally making headway on developing a taste for puerh...at least ripe puerhs. So, I
grabbed what I thought was Denong’s Ripe Puerh sample that I got from the San Francisco Tea Festival this year.
I measured out the tea, made the first infusion, took a sip, and thought...wait, this can’t be a shou puerh. I might not have fully developed my puerh tasting chops, but I know enough to distinguish most shous from shengs.
So I took another look at the sample box, and nope, it wasn’t a ripe puerh at all, but it turns out it was the sheng sample...oopsie.
Sometimes, the tea has to decide for you.
Denong's Notes:
The 2017 Mountain Oasis, is quickly becoming quite well known for its unique floral, fruit and menthol like characteristics it developed from the 2017 drought harvest. It had become a favorite of many Pu-erh tea drinker and will continued to be remembered for years to come.
Tasting Notes: Floral, Menthol, Abundant
Region: Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
Harvest: Spring
Format: Cake Weight: 100g or 357g
Format: Broken Cake (Box) Weight: 30g or 10g
Steeping Instructions: Young Raw Pu-erh Steeping
Brewing Suggestions:
1-2g. of tea for Denong Glass Tumbler Temp: 185-195°F | 85-90°C
3-4g.+ of tea for Gaiwan Temp: 195-205°F | 90-95°C
Tasting Date: 11/26/2019
This tea seems to like short steep times at about 190degF/87F @ 10second intervals, and increasing either temp/time brings out a bit of herbal bitterness that isn’t bad, but was slightly unexpected.
Despite Denong's description of floral flavors, I didn't really get a sense of floral scents or flavor notes until much later infusions (#5). Everything read to me as sweet herbal notes.
The tea is a 10gram broken up sample of their cake. I brewed in Gongfu style with 5.06 grams
The tea has a mild astringency with just a tang of bitterness. Astringency starts at the tip of the tongue and moves to the whole of the tongue.
I've got about enough to do another tasting later. I took a look at their pricing for this cake and I won't be able to afford to replace it once I'm done. I'm very grateful to be able to sample this tea. If you get a chance, I recommend it.
For those who want a bit more detailed steep information, here's my notes from a variety of steeps up until 6. Unless otherwise noted, temperatures are in Fahrenheit and times are in seconds.
I measured out the tea, made the first infusion, took a sip, and thought...wait, this can’t be a shou puerh. I might not have fully developed my puerh tasting chops, but I know enough to distinguish most shous from shengs.
So I took another look at the sample box, and nope, it wasn’t a ripe puerh at all, but it turns out it was the sheng sample...oopsie.
Sometimes, the tea has to decide for you.
Denong's Notes:
The 2017 Mountain Oasis, is quickly becoming quite well known for its unique floral, fruit and menthol like characteristics it developed from the 2017 drought harvest. It had become a favorite of many Pu-erh tea drinker and will continued to be remembered for years to come.
Tasting Notes: Floral, Menthol, Abundant
Region: Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
Harvest: Spring
Format: Cake Weight: 100g or 357g
Format: Broken Cake (Box) Weight: 30g or 10g
Steeping Instructions: Young Raw Pu-erh Steeping
Brewing Suggestions:
1-2g. of tea for Denong Glass Tumbler Temp: 185-195°F | 85-90°C
3-4g.+ of tea for Gaiwan Temp: 195-205°F | 90-95°C
Tasting Date: 11/26/2019
Summary:
I am finding that I really like this tea. It’s got a lot of sweetness to it with a lot of herbal notes bordering on vegetal. And, it’s really easy and smooth to drink. In later steeps, there’s a cooling effect like menthol or mint. I can feel the cooling effect in the back of my mouth and throat. It’s very pleasant. The tea has a nice relaxing effect.This tea seems to like short steep times at about 190degF/87F @ 10second intervals, and increasing either temp/time brings out a bit of herbal bitterness that isn’t bad, but was slightly unexpected.
Despite Denong's description of floral flavors, I didn't really get a sense of floral scents or flavor notes until much later infusions (#5). Everything read to me as sweet herbal notes.
The tea is a 10gram broken up sample of their cake. I brewed in Gongfu style with 5.06 grams
- Leaf: (Dry): General puerh scent; medicinal with a hint of sweet.
- Leaf (Warm): Sweet syrup (maybe honeysuckle?) with medicinal herbal notes. I find the scent rather pleasing.
- Leaf (Wet): The wet leaf is consistently very sugary sweet. Different notes come and go, such as burnt wood, vegetal, Japanese incense, or dried flowers.
- Liquid Aroma: The tea broth consistently smells of a honey lozenge; honey/syrupy sweet with a tang of herb.
The tea has a mild astringency with just a tang of bitterness. Astringency starts at the tip of the tongue and moves to the whole of the tongue.
I've got about enough to do another tasting later. I took a look at their pricing for this cake and I won't be able to afford to replace it once I'm done. I'm very grateful to be able to sample this tea. If you get a chance, I recommend it.
Detailed Steep Information
#1 Steep
- Temperature: 205 Time:15s Color: Pale ivory yellow
- Leaf: (high notes) sweet (low notes) cooked vegetal
- Flavors: Mild wood/vegetal notes with sweet undertones. There’s a mild astringency in the whole of the mouth
#2 Steep
- Temperature:185 Time: 30s Color: Darker than #1
- Leaf: (h)Sweet (l) Fire, wood, burnt wood, herbal, underlying sweet
- Aroma: Sweet honey medicine (like a very sweet lozenge)
- Flavor: Starts off mild then slight bitter herb flavor that evens out as you drink. There’s an increased astringency in this steep, starting immediately at the tongue tip then moving through the whole tongue.
- Notes: I’m going to increase the temperature to see how it reacts, while keeping the same brewing time
#3 Steep
- Temperature:201 Time: 30s Color: Light Yellow
- Leaf (h) sugary sweet (l)sweet vegetal
- Aroma: Still that honey lozenge
- Flavor: There’s a slight bitterness at first that evens out to a sweetness. It’s a very strong bitterness but not in a bad way...did I brew this too hot? Astringency is very much present. There’s a sweet afternotes.
- Notes: Go back down to 185/190 for 40 seconds
#4 Steep
- Temperature: 191 Time: 40s Color: Pale yellow; darker than #3
- Leaf: (h) sweetness, Chinese incense (l) sweet vegetal, herbs
- Aroma Sweet herbs
- Flavor Bitterness has lessened but still present. It’s a bit more astringent than bitter -- like a herbal bitter. But still an underlying sweetness. It’s very smooth and I’m noticing a cooling effect in the mouth (like how mint, menthol, ginger have a cooling effect). I’m rather liking how this is coming out.
#5 Steep
- Temperature: 191 Time: 50s Color: Light yellow
- Leaf H:Sweet herbs L:Sweet dried flowers
- Aroma: Faint honey lozenge
- Flavor: Reduced initial bitterness. The broth goes down very easy with a cooling effect in the throat. Taste of herbs, hint of floral. Starting to feel this in my head. The cha qi snuck up on me!
#6 Steep
- Temperature:194 Time: 60 Color: Same as #5
- Leaf: Sweetness is pretty much the order of the day, but it’s lessening
- Aroma: Fainter honey lozenge
- Flavor: The flavors have mellowed out and balanced out. It’s like a curry or stew where all the flavors are melding together after 1-2 days.
- Notes: I’m feeling oh so very relaxed right now.
#7 Steep
- Temp: 194 Time: 75sec Color: A paler version of #6
- Leaf: Starting to smell florals i the leaf
- Aroma: Honey lozenge & florals
- Flavors: Still mellow. Still balanced out, but starting to fade. I think maybe 3 more steeps?
- Notes: Maybe throw this into a bottle of cold water for overnight steeping the last of the flavors out?
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