Corax on Jingmai Region Wild Grown Pu'er [Sheng, 2003], Six Famous Tea Mountain Company, Ltd

DRY LEAF:
--- color: a very dark greyish green with flecks of black
--- constituency: sturdy chunks that crumble into buds [like a tippy yunnan hongcha]
--- aroma: nil

TEA-TO-WATER PROPORTIONS [grams to fl oz]:
--- 4 g to 6 oz

VESSEL: gaiwan

FIRST INF:
--- time: 90 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: pale golden with a rosy, almost garnet cast
--- aroma: almost nil; what there was was a fresh scent like oxygen-rich air
--- taste: again, 'fresh' is the word that first springs to mind. very mild; clean; not astringent, not bitter. a flavor that is akin to smokiness without actually reaching to the smoky.

SECOND INF:
--- time: 120 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: medium gold, again a rosy cast
--- aroma: negligible
--- taste: i actually tasted this 'along the way' at 60 and 90 sec, and felt that it had not brewed sufficiently. at 120 sec it had become more assertive, and the vegetal notes were those that prevailed. there was also, however, a bit of bitterness to it. still not astringent. in the aftertaste the bitterness did not remain; the lasting impression was vegetal.

THIRD INF:
--- time: 90 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: paler gold, still rosy
--- aroma: nil
--- taste: this infusion achieved at 90 sec what INF2 did at 120, but without the bitterness. what a difference thirty seconds can make. the old chinese oolong rule of 'three breaths' clearly has something to it.

FOURTH INF:
--- time: 90 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: pale gold, less rosy
--- aroma: nil
--- taste: now is when the smoky flavor comes forward. the three previous infusions had hinted at it, but in INF4 it is the predominant note. at 90 sec here, no bitterness; as clean a taste as 'smoky' can offer. ditto the aftertaste, which lingers assertively.

FIFTH INF:
--- time: 90 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: paler gold still, less rosy
--- aroma: nil
--- taste: at 90 sec this liquor was so pale in color that i thought it would need longer to infuse, but the taste was even smokier than that of INF4. i felt that any longer would have been too long. in the cup it was a remarkable balance of potency and delicacy. it would be an interesting experiment to do five infusions of, say, a lapsang souchong and to see if one could produce an infusion both this smoky and this delicate.

COMMENTS: again an example of how puers constantly surprise. INF2 made me worry a bit that the tea could not 'go the distance,' but in fact the deficiency was mine -- in letting it over-infuse. ironically, i would say the fifth infusion was the best.