Finding the Tea Qi: 2017 “Hong Ni Tang” Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh

Day One. Time to meet the team.

Assembled before you are a Yixing clay cup (AKA The Little Tea Venerable), and an Easy Pour gaiwan made with duan ni- a type of clay from the Yixing region, referring to the color. Selected because it holds heat well, and the porus clay picks up the flavor of the tea brewed in it over time, giving both cup and gaiwan their own unique flavor. "Raising them," if you will.

However, I am on vacation. So my kettle is a pot boiling on the stove, and my pitcher is a coffee mug. (Two types of coffee machines in this joint, but zero kettles. When I asked housekeeping for one, they sent this wierd frother thing that does heat up water, but not to boiling. Pot on the stove works fine.) So temperature control is going to consist of "Boiling" and "Not Boiling."

What follows are my notes from the various steeps of the day, somewhat cleaned up and with pictures attached. Tomorrow, I will do better.

-Warby

From Google’s AI Summary-

Hong Ni Tang (红泥塘, meaning "Red Mud Pond") primarily refers to a specific village in China's Yunnan province, famous for producing high-quality, old arbor raw (sheng) Pu-erh tea, known for its complex, foresty, slightly sweet, and savory notes, strong Cha Qi (energy), and suitability for aging.

Will I be able to taste any of that? We’ll find out.

Why start with this particular tea? Because it was the packet customs opened when they examined the package everything came in, so probably a good one to iron out the kinks on. 

Process- 

Aged Pu’Erh needs boiling water, apparently, so every time the water hits the leaves, it will be boiling. I boiled the water in a pot over the stove. Preheated the gaiwan and tea cup with boiling water, let it sit for a couple of minutes and poured it out. The easy gaiwan doesn't have a smooth pour like my tea pot at home. Maybe I’m putting too much water and pouring too fast? The clay gets hot enough to scald my fingers, I’m using hot pads to pick it up and move it around.

The leaves are broken bits of a tea cake, still compressed, still dense and whole. They don’t smell of much other than tea. I measure out seven grams using my scale, then load it into the preheated tea pot. After a minute, I lift the lid and give it a sniff. It smells like tea. No subtle notes of this or that, it just smells like tea.

I gave the tea its wash, and my little tea monk got his first taste of raw Pu’Erh, the first of many to come. 

The Steeps-

First steep- color is a light yellow, not much to report there, other than instead of using a mug for my pitcher, I’m going to use a pint glass so I can see it better going forward. The little clay cup is so dark, the tea looks like it’s the color of tobacco. I don’t get any of the flavor notes google said I should be on the lookout for, but my little monk and I will stay on it.

Definitely a tea for sipping, not quaffing. The tannins slowly become more pronounced the longer it sits in the cup. There is a weight and texture to it, different from plain water. Not quite syrupy, but it moves over the tongue differently than you would expect. 

Second steep-

I still had too much water in the gaiwan, and I think I let it steep a little too long, more like fifteen or twenty seconds for some of it, split between the little monk and the pint glass pitcher. The tea leaves cloged the filter on this easy gaiwan instantly, making pouring it a pain. Pouring slowly is clearly the right answer to that, but it’s, yanno, hot, making me not want to go slow. The lid gets hot too. 

Maybe I get a bit more of the menthol or cooling. I do see what people mean by earthy or woodsy- It sounds unpleasant, but it really does taste the way an autumn day smells. Or something in that direction anyway. The taste of the smell of dry leaves. It’s mild and pleasant.

Second cup from that same steep is unpleasantly tannic- definitely oversteeped, did not finish the cup. I will be more organized for steep Number Three.

Third steep- Nailed the volume, exactly one tea cup’s worth. Nothing for the pitcher, which means no picture. Will change it up for steep four. Did I not let the water boil enough? Everything was much easier to handle this time. Easy peasy pouring out of the gaiwan, nice and slow. No, just picked up the tea cup, it’s hot as a bastard on fathers day. A question of time, then.

Not getting much aroma from this steep. Tea just tastes like tea. Still a bit of menthol coolness with no menthol flavor. Kind of funny. Trying to enhance the vibes, listening to chinese bamboo flute music. The flute is played by an actual human, but the backing instrumentals and drum are straight from Pro Tools and sound like I’m drinking my tea in a mall chinese restaurant. Vibes not enhanced. 

This steep definitely has a bit less flavor. Steep longer/make sure the water boiled hot enough? Will find out on Steep Four.

Swapped pretty lady playing flute for old dude playing flute. Piano backing this time. Still not ideal, but vibes are at least a bit enhanced. Anyone else think there is an eerie degree of similarity between the Dizi and the sound of an Irish Pennywhistle?

Left the dregs in the cup while I scoured Youtube for “Just the Dizi, no I don’t want your goddamn 1987 era drum kit EDM, just gimmie the bamboo, you degenerate AI.” 

No results, and the tea turned bitter in the cup. Room temp Pu’erh not recommended.

Steep Four- Tea is the color of a standard Bavarian lager. Something with a bit of body to it, but not a Marzen or something. A lager with a touch of darker roasted barley like a Crystal 60 or a Crystal 90 for a little sweetness and color.

Not sure if it comes through in the pictures, but the little white hairs in the tea liquor are a sign of quality, apparently. Starting to pick up a bit of the forest floor aroma. Fifteen second steep, not at all bitter, none of that syrupy texture though, and I’m not getting much flavor nuance. What does it taste like? Tea. It tastes like tea. Pretty nice tea, but tea. 

A touch of tannin develops as it sits in the cup. Interesting to note that the drink continues to evolve or cook even when it’s off the leaves.

Finished off Steep Four, and decided that the monk on my cup is obviously the Little Tea Venerable. Crazy I didn’t think of it as soon as I saw it online. I blame Television. Somehow.

Steep five- This cup lacks flavor and aroma, even with boiling water and a twenty second steep. I seem to be getting the hang of dosing the pot with water. I was lucky- the gaiwan holds exactly the right amount to fill the little clay cup. Funny to think given the visual size difference, but the volume taken up by the leaves is significant. I’m calling the day’s experiment here. 

Conclusion/Final Review: Tea Qi, not found. Did I taste anything like Google’s notes? Hell no. Maybe a bit of forest, but honestly it just tasted like tea. Pleasant, but not something I would go out of my way to drink again. I reckon that's a good thing. This was the one where I was figuring out the process. Tomorrow, I will do a little better. This is an excellent start, I think, filled with mistakes and learning.

On to Day Two.