Hi, went back to my dealer and told him that I'd need that darn sample NOW, so the old curmodgeon handed me over 1.9g of the desired Puttabong leaves ("EXcellent, EXcellent") and with a big grin showed off the two chests he managed to secure. Well, well let's see if that stuff is worth 6 (!) times the price of the Rangmuk sampled before.
Appearance: screaming of high quality manufacture, longish, ranging from a light silvery green through all kinds of shades to a dark olive green. Silvery buds in abundance, almost no broken parts.
Dry blow: grassy, hayish, balanced spectrum based on warm spicier notes, the base reminding me a bit of an "average" 2nd flush, with minimal whiffs of muscatel and nuts making it through
What to do with 1.9g of those "wonderleaves". After some contemplation I grabbed my yellow 5,5 oz dragon gaiwan, prewarmed and emptied it, carefully added the leaves and went for a sniff of the premoistened leaves.
Aroma of premoistened leaves: Pretty much the same as found in the "dry blow", could detect a slight whiff of ripe apples, a couple seconds later my schnotz registered a hint of boiled spinach.
Brought some Kingfisher mineral water to a roaring boil, let it cool down to ~95 deg C. and poured it over the leaves.
Sniff of wet leaves (after straining): Two words: Lung Ching. Nothing reminding of a DJ here. Those wet steaming leaves speak chinese.
1st steep - (2'15") - pale yellowish liquor (similar to diluted PY153, Ni-Dioxine yellow) What's in that cup ? A VERY delicate brew, again only remotely reminding of a DJ, but more of a slightly fermented yellow cha with some medium grade Lung Ching mixed in. Definetely understeeped at 2'15".2nd steep - (2'45") - slightly stronger unsaturated yellow Still VERY delicate ((no juice in those leaves )), now there's a bit of adstringency, some fruit showing up, dry apple ?, the first signs of DJ leaves but still more like a white/yellow chinese brew.
3rd steep - over the top - darker unsaturated yellow (PY153 around the turning point towards it's ochre side) Now the adstringency has taken over. Pretty complex, but fairly delicate notes of fruit come into play. At this point I really wished I had more leaves to hit the zone. (thinking of 10-20% more leaves, water around 90 Deg C.)The cold leaves in the gaiwan still smell of a medium grade Lung Ching, now with some grassy overtones.
Bottom line: I'd really need 10g of this tea to get more of an idea what it really could be. So far this has been nothing more than a blurry snapshot. Anyway, from what I've seen it could be something for those who fancy more delicate teas like whites and delicate yellows. Myself I'm more partial to 2nd flushes or more expressive FFs (juice in the leaves ) so I don't give it a rating. I also don't think I'll dish out the arbitrary $$ my dealer is asking but rather wait a couple days for more samples or further stock up on the aforementioned Rangmuk.
Back to the hotel, a pot of Castleton 2nd musc (hehe) and a good read,
Karsten / Darjeeling