Tasting: 2019 “Golden Pig” Raw Puerh
I finally had a minute to sit and create my tasting notes for the 2019 Golden Pig. This cake is one of the same five cakes being used for the Puerh storage experiment I previously blogged about. To add a bit more information on this cake, this is a blend of 2019 harvested autumn material from several Lincang villages. For those of you who have expressed interest in the distant results of this experiment, these are the notes I will be using as reference when the time comes to do side by side tasting around this time next year.
The leaves are still a bit bright, with patches of green and silvery downy. Being from 2019 the cake as already aged a couples years and it shows, but you can still see the younger side of this cake. It will be interesting to see how the other cakes, in their various storage methods compare to this freshly opened cake.
The strength of this little cake was very clear and upfront from the first sniff of the dry leaf. I first got a very fruity aroma like fruit cocktail or stewed peaches in syrup. In addition it has a sweet and savory type of aroma much like a sweet cherry tomato with a lightly woodsy finish. Notes of peachy and yellow plum came through greatly on the wet leaf with stronger earthy/ woodsy notes of wet tree bark. I also found it to have a fresh vegetal notes like freshly washed greens.
The first infusion has a slight astringency with a bitter bite on the throat but not overpowering. It has a thick and full bodied mouthfeel with a viscous flavor. Fruity flavors of white peach transition into a savory tone just before transitioning back to a fruity finish peaches and sugarcane. The second infusion presented much more bitterness but with a greater fruity sweetness to balance it. Notes of sugarcane and honey could be found along with a smoother mouthfeel.
By the fourth infusion the tea had hit it’s sweet point. It became perfectly balanced with the right amount of sweetness and astringency. Still very thick and viscous with greater vegetal and woody tones and a delightful fruity finish.
I am glad I got five of these cake, even if the majority I can’t touch for a year. The cake just recently sold out and has it turns out, it checks all the right boxes for me. Strong, flavorful and thick that leaves a lasting impression. A quality I search for in all Raw Puerh I try but often fail to get.
