Anna from ANMO knows her puerh and she was kind enough to give me some samples with a recent order. One of the samples is the 2008 Simplified Word Sheng. The other samples are from 2001 and 2000 so I have some very nice sessions to look forward to. She told me to try this one first so that is what I did in this session.
2008 Simplified Word
The 2008 Simplified Word is a sheng puerh from 2008 and it went through Hong Kong storage. The material in this cake comes from the Menghai area and it was machine pressed into 330g cakes. That’s all the information I have, but that makes it interesting as it’ll be more of a blind tasting.
Tea Tasting
- 6.2g for a 140ml Neiziwaihong LQER teapot
- Water 99-95°C
I see smaller and medium-sized leaves that are dark brown. It seems this one has aged quite a bit already. The leaves look thin and feel brittle (in a good way). There is a subtle aroma of dry wood, light smoke and something fruity is going on as well.
Infusion 1 (15 sec): smelling the leaves after infusing reveals incense with a fruity twist. The infusion itself feels smooth and round. It starts with incense and a bit of smoke but quickly changes into something fruity. This continues into the finish and aftertaste. Really enjoyable first infusion.
Infusion 2 (20 sec): the liquor looks thick but it didn’t change much. I still feel incense and fruit. This fruit isn’t as bright as some oolong teas or hong cha but it adds something fresh to the deeper flavours of this tea. The fruit is coming through in the aftertaste and it’s almost as if I have eaten dark berries.
Infusion 3 (25 sec): so rich and full of flavour. Incense is noticeable in the undertone but the infusion is dominated by juicy berries. It also reminds me of wet leaves on a rainy day (in a good way). I’m also experiencing a tiny bit of astringency.
Infusion 4 (30 sec): it amazes me how thick the liquor looks. It feels gentler because the incense had disappeared. So pleasant, soft and delicate. This has to be the best infusion so far. It’s fruity with hints of berries that just flow and continue into the aftertaste.
Infusion 5 (40): no big changes, but this is a good thing. It even feels rounder with fewer sharp edges. Smooth notes of berries and damp leaves. It even feels a bit creamy towards the end.
Infusion 6 (long): more or less the same. There are some bitter notes in the finish because of the longer infusion.
Conclusion
The 2008 Simplified Word sheng was a really enjoyable session. It reminded me a bit of the 2006 Huang Tian mini teacake (which is sold out now).
I got some incense at the start of the early infusions but I felt dark berries throughout the whole session. Towards the end, the incense diminished and berries became stronger. Nice and delicious tea!
This tea is not for sale at ANMO right now. Maybe one day in the future… I just wanted to write about it because I had a lot of fun drinking it. If you want to read my notes about other ANMO teas, click here.
