2007 Xi Zhi Hao Autumn Nu Er Cha

Today’s tea is one of the non-limited autumn productions of San Ho Tang factory, the Nu Er (Daughter) Cha. As Guang wrote, this tea was made of sun-dried mao cha from remote old plantations in Jing Gu blended with also Jing Gu’s unique Da Bai Cha (big white tea). Mr. Chen stressed the Da Bai Cha there was a naturally occurred cultivar in mountains, not like usually on the market they use silvery tips pf Yun Kang #10 cultivar and claim the same thing.



Dry leaves are big; the sample looks stone-molded, like all of the autumn production. Since I had 10 grams of sample left, I decided to use them all with my rather big zhu-ni pot. So it was nice that I was able to loosen the sample and get the big chunk of tea into teapot without breaking the leaves too much. Later I discovered, that most of the leaves were broken, but I’m ready to accuse for that the fact, that they originated from sample.



The infusions were very clear, light yellow. I found traces of smoke in the smell of tea; fortunately, the brew itself does not taste too smoky. It lasted lots of infusions; the taste was the entire time solid and strong. It reminded me of 2007 "5th International Aged Pu-erh Appreciation" Memorial cake in some moments. The Nu Er Cha looks like it was blended for spirit, not the beauty.

What was absolutely missing from the brew was the floral taste I found in Da Xue Shan, a bit less in Pu Zheng Cha and in traces in 2006 Xi Zhi Hao Nan Nuo. This is old-school pu-erh, yeah.



What really disappointed me was the inconsistency of leaves. They were from yellowish through dark green up to brown. Looks like some of them remained in the basket for a bit too long. Also, some of them had unhealthy looking black spots.



Conclusion – this tea isn’t bad, but I like the limited productions much more. And since the difference in cost isn’t huge, I believe they are far better choice. But it could be nice to see, how will this beeng age and mellow in next 20 years – it has potency to improve.