Very Old tree Menghai Ripe PuErh roasted in aromatic bamboo for a buttery mouthfeel and exemplary taste. Creme caramel, rum raisins and pancake batter with antique woods and suede.
This is the follow-up to our universally loved 'Hip Cuddler' PuErh.
There are many similarities between 'Chill Patrol' and its predecessor - smooth and dense, creamy and comforting with a mix of patisserie, dried fruits and liqueur.
But there are some notable differences.
Older tea trees were used to make this PuErh (estimated 100 years old), which varies the expression of flavour and adds extra structure and sweetness to the finish.
'Chill Patrol' moves away from the more nutty leanings of 'Hip Cuddler' and brings more caramels and fruits with an airy shimmer to bring lightness to the deep indulgence.
Dry leaves bring the warmth of the roast with chocolate and fruit-wood embers, currants and biscuits. But there is also a Thai Milk Tea briskness to keep things fresh.
The wet leaves exude the sticky-sweet tops of creme caramel, flan or the set custards and raisins of an English bread and butter pudding. But again there is a light piney freshness and the starchy sap of bamboo.
The mouthfeel of 'Chill Patrol' is so oily, soft and buttery. It slips effortlessly over your tongue and down your throat like liquid satin.
The taste brings some non-food notes as you would demand from any Ripe tea, but they are again lighter - suede rather than old leather, woodwork studio rather than a library of antique woods.
However, the main event is sweet indulgence - sherry-soaked raisins, malted breads, cherry soda, pancake batter and sticky syrup. This tea will leave your mouth enveloped in rum caramel sweetness for hours.
After drinking a session of 'Chill Patrol' you realise that the tea lives up to its name. It is not a sedating tea but instead brings a calm and creative clarity with a settled physical feel and digestive quality.
ABOUT BAMBOO ROASTED TEA
The tradition of roasting tea in aromatic bamboo dates back thousands of years.
The Dai and Bulang minority group in Yunnan are especially known for this technique which first involves cutting fragrant, green bamboo and cutting it into sections. These are then stuffed with finished tea and roasted over fire which steams in bamboo fragrance and softens the leaves. The soft leaves are stuffed deeper into the bamboo and the sections are topped up with more leaves.
The roasting/steaming and stuffing process continues until the bamboo is filled and the bamboo has had adequate roasting. They are then sealed and left for a month or two to dry completely.
Bamboo roasting adds a warm and toasted note to the tea while dialling up the sweetness, smoothness and texture. The aromatic bamboo also imparts a candied fruity character to the taste and finish.
The problem with most Bamboo roasted tea is that there is a tendency for the raw material to be lower quality than the PuErh pressed into cakes. This makes sense - save the high grade pickings for sellers who want to make premium tea cakes and use the 'other' tea to roast in bamboo to soften, sweeten and smooth for the tribes themselves.
But our range of Bamboo teas is different - we first select the Maocha or loose teas and then commission test roasts to see how they react to the bamboo.
In this way, we create a range with only the most considered tea raw material.
OPENING THE BAMBOO
If you have ever tried a bamboo roasted tea before then you may have already experienced the nightmare of trying to break into the bamboo tubes - fraught with the dangers of slipping sharp edges and splinters. We have made sure that you don't have to deal with all of that nonsense by pre-cutting the bamboo - just slide off the sleeve cover and the bamboo section pulls out to reveal all of the tea for you to break off and then re-seal. Easy peasy.
