Floral Class Puerh II
Puerh Picking Season
We left off talking about age and terroir as indications for floral class puerhs. Season also factors greatly. The earlier the picking, the more likely it expresses high-pitched florality. “Early spring” is the puerh term most usually used to describe “first flush” selections. Pickings are differentiated in spring by those picked before or after Qingming Festival in early April.
Many puerh offerings are sold by designation of season picked. “Spring tea” implicitly means Floral Class. Some recipes may have a preponderance of spring tea to be in the Floral Class. Maybe many versions from the late 90s to early aughts of 7542 fall into this category.
Puerh Leaf Picking
A significant factor in floral expression is the actual leaves picked. The closer to the bud/tip, the more floral the expression. There’s some famous British brand of black tea sporting the name “Tips.” Ostensibly, this is a very floral and energizing beverage. Similarly, small grade puerh leaves size 1-3 (from 1-9) are bright and bracing. Conversely, small leaves are usually flashes in the proverbial pan, being less durable than larger leaf sizes.
Conclusions on Floral Class Puerhs
Really the only true grip one can gain on the subject of Floral Class Puerhs is to drink and and lots of them. The quality of flowers is going to vary upon age of production, terroir, season, and leaf picking. Some Chinese factories have floral notes serve as signature of their house taste; Liming, MKRS, and Tulin are factories to look out for in this regard. Of course, there’s always 6FTM.
