ba ka ngoi puerh by jalamteas.

Recently JalamTeas sent me a new puerh cake to try -- their Ba Ka Ngoi offering! I had, at the time, been made a little bit wary of puerh after getting my butt kicked by a super powerful pungent one. This cake, however, was neither pungent or powerful. It brewed a mellow & balanced cup that I found to be truly enjoyable.

The tea was harvested in the summer of 2013 from the Pulang Mountain Range at an altitude of 1300-1400m.

The cake is easy to break apart and has lots of full dark leaves with amber tips scattered throughout. Upon brewing the tea is dark -- almost black -- and the steam smells of damp wood & soil. It is very mellow. The first sip has only a touch of astringency followed by a smooth cedar note that fades into a tangy aftertaste. The more you brew it the more reddish the liquor gets. It holds up very well to several steepings without the flavor being compromised! It lightens up but the cedar note remains, and in later steepings I noticed it became notably sweeter and less tangy.

This is one of those easy drinking puerhs that you can brew for friends & family to introduce them to the tea. You get that feeling of it being a wild tea, foresty and dark, but without anything overwhelming to the palate.

Thank you, JalamTeas, for sending me such a lovely treat!