What Pu'er Are You Drinking

[vuanguyen]

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Drinking an unknown free sample from Wistaria. Unknown because it was labeled in Chinese and I can't read Chinese. When I inquired Ms. Wei Lin at Wistaria what this tea was, she wrote to me "the tea sample "緊茶“ is not on the online shop~ actually the online shop doesn't have all our production". And that was it:)
It tasted really good and had no smoke at all. Does anyone know what this tea is just from the labeling? I don't think this tea was made by Wistaria.

[Balthazar]

Any photos of the tea?

緊茶 literally means "tight tea". I think it's usually used for mushroom shaped tea, e.g. the Xiaguan Tibetan Mushroom teas.

[vuanguyen]

Any photos of the tea?

緊茶 literally means "tight tea". I think it's usually used for mushroom shaped tea, e.g. the Xiaguan Tibetan Mushroom teas.

For a tea that has a meaning of "tight tea", it's not tight at all It's very loosely compressed. This tea so different than all other Wistaria teas that I have tasted (Tai He, Zi Pin, Long Pa, Qing Teng, Zi Zun, Zi Zin, Zi Zin Yo, Tai Yue, Cing Yai, red mark and blue mark). This is earthy and medicinal...like ginseng and much darker in color. It also has a sweet after taste. Like a shu puer tea but not quite. None of the other Wistaria teas has this profile. Maybe because it was made in 2000 and the youngest Wistaria tea I tasted was 2002 ? I don't know.

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[Balthazar]

For a tea that has a meaning of "tight tea", it's not tight at all It's very loosely compressed. This tea so different than all other Wistaria teas that I have tasted (Tai He, Zi Pin, Long Pa, Qing Teng, Zi Zun, Zi Zin, Zi Zin Yo, Tai Yue, Cing Yai, red mark and blue mark). This is earthy and medicinal...like ginseng and much darker in color. It also has a sweet after taste. Like a shu puer tea but not quite. None of the other Wistaria teas has this profile. Maybe because it was made in 2000 and the youngest Wistaria tea I tasted was 2002 ? I don't know.

Looks and sounds like a nice tea

The "Like a shu puer tea but not quite" comment is interesting. The 班禅緊茶 (banchanjincha), for instance, such as this one, are reputedly a mix of sheng and shu.

I actually steamed the last piece of one of these a few days ago (the core is literally impossible to break open without heavy duty tools)



I don't know if the mix story is true or not (or what the ratio of the mix is), but from the look of the leaves, particularly at the core, and from the taste, it wouldn't surprise me if (lightly fermented) shu is at least involved.

[pantry]

Drinking Mansong from Spring 2017 today. This tea is sweet, easy to drink. Doesn't go well with hummus, however.

[klepto]

I've noticed that Wistaria teas are not labelled raw/sheng or ripe/shou. Hopefully I don't have any shou samples in my cart . I have not acquired the taste for it yet.

[pantry]

I've noticed that Wistaria teas are not labelled raw/sheng or ripe/shou. Hopefully I don't have any shou samples in my cart . I have not acquired the taste for it yet.

If you just ordered straight from this page: https://www.wistariateahouse.com/mainss ... n=ZC461911
they should all be sheng puerh.
I don't see them selling samples, however. Where did you find sample size?

[klepto]

I've noticed that Wistaria teas are not labelled raw/sheng or ripe/shou. Hopefully I don't have any shou samples in my cart . I have not acquired the taste for it yet.

If you just ordered straight from this page: https://www.wistariateahouse.com/mainss ... n=ZC461911
they should all be sheng puerh.
I don't see them selling samples, however. Where did you find sample size?

50 gram bowl isn't a real sample size but I was curious .

[pantry]

I've noticed that Wistaria teas are not labelled raw/sheng or ripe/shou. Hopefully I don't have any shou samples in my cart . I have not acquired the taste for it yet.

If you just ordered straight from this page: https://www.wistariateahouse.com/mainss ... n=ZC461911
they should all be sheng puerh.
I don't see them selling samples, however. Where did you find sample size?

50 gram bowl isn't a real sample size but I was curious .

Ah, yes! All the tuo cha they have are sheng pu. They used to have one ripe online but no longer, so I think you’re safe

[vuanguyen]

All Puer teas from WIstaria are sheng. Be careful about the bowl and cake of the teas. They are for some unknown reason not the same. I have a 2003 Zi Pin bowl which is so different that the 2003 Zi Pin cake. The bowl is more compressed, more smoky and less Qi than the cake version.

[vuanguyen]

For a tea that has a meaning of "tight tea", it's not tight at all It's very loosely compressed. This tea so different than all other Wistaria teas that I have tasted (Tai He, Zi Pin, Long Pa, Qing Teng, Zi Zun, Zi Zin, Zi Zin Yo, Tai Yue, Cing Yai, red mark and blue mark). This is earthy and medicinal...like ginseng and much darker in color. It also has a sweet after taste. Like a shu puer tea but not quite. None of the other Wistaria teas has this profile. Maybe because it was made in 2000 and the youngest Wistaria tea I tasted was 2002 ? I don't know.

Looks and sounds like a nice tea

The "Like a shu puer tea but not quite" comment is interesting. The 班禅緊茶 (banchanjincha), for instance, such as this one, are reputedly a mix of sheng and shu.

I actually steamed the last piece of one of these a few days ago (the core is literally impossible to break open without heavy duty tools)



I don't know if the mix story is true or not (or what the ratio of the mix is), but from the look of the leaves, particularly at the core, and from the taste, it wouldn't surprise me if (lightly fermented) shu is at least involved.

@Balthazar

Maybe it's the same tea Do you know if it's still possible to buy your 2000 "Tibetan mushroom"? I asked WIstaria about purchasing their "tight tea" but still waiting for their response.

[Rui]

2010 Yunnan Sourcing Wu Liang shan sheng.

Still catching up with all the tea samples I have acummulated...

[Balthazar]

@vuanguyen: The Wisteria tea looks more like pure sheng (and maybe better leaf quality) to me, although it's hard to say for sure.

I bought mine from TeaPals. Unfortunately I bought up the remaining stock of four "mushrooms" .

From a quick search, it seems to be sold both as ripe and raw, depending on vendor and vintage. Seems to be different versions of it.

[pantry]

Trying Wistaria's Longpa sample today. Glad it's just a sample

[klepto]

Trying Wistaria's Longpa sample today. Glad it's just a sample

That reminds me of my early days trying samples from random vendors. Oof, it would make you wonder how they could screw up so badly. Supposedly some smoked oolong tasted like a charcoal briquette