96

I can’t seem to find a picture of this on the internet anywhere – sorry

My guy was very excited when he discovered a new tea shop in his neighborhood recently We popped on over there this afternoon and discovered this. A shu pu-erh tea brick from the Xinghai Tea factory, the Label says Gold Brick. The back of the box says 1998.

The lady who gave us this tasting was very energetic and enthusiastic about the world of tea. We also tried a Chinese green tea that was very flavorful. I did take good mental notes on how she brewed this stuff, very gently. It’s a very sweet, dark red creamy cup. Probably one of the sweeter pu-erhs I have had. It does smell a tad fishy/mushroomy etc but tastes like cherries, vanilla and honey. Redwood trees and bark. When we took this brick home I brewed some up in the Tetsubin. This is another disaster when steeped for too long and a little bit can make a huge difference. I tried it for two minutes and the result was a bitter, thickish mess that I had to throw out. I would suggest one minute or less for the first steep and nice little short infusions for 30 -45 seconds after that seem to be doing the trick very well here. A delicious tea perfect for drinking now. yummmy.

I will try to save some for the future too.

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

Amy, do you think maybe brewing it in the Tetsubin changed the flavor at all? It is insulated/coated with enamel on the inside, right? So maybe, the flavor was not changed at all. I was just thinkin’…and sometimes….that gets me into trouble. :))

TeaBrat

Scott, I don’t think so. It tastes pretty much the same as I remember it in the tea shop. But I use my tetsubin for black tea and puerh mostly.

ScottTeaMan

oh ok…..also I found this link…….Does the tea look like this?

http://www.finestfast.com/-p-76.html

There are links with this named tea, but I don’t know if it is the tea you have exactly.

TeaBrat

nope… not it

ScottTeaMan

I’ve ordered alot of tea from Upton’s, and they reformatted their settings, and some of my reviews I had posted there are gone, along with the pics. I:o/

Fair warning would’ve been nice so I could’ve saved them & posted here. It’s still possible from memory, but some nuances will be lost!

Charles Thomas Draper

I would say a 30 second steep is a good rule for something that old.

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ScottTeaMan

Amy, do you think maybe brewing it in the Tetsubin changed the flavor at all? It is insulated/coated with enamel on the inside, right? So maybe, the flavor was not changed at all. I was just thinkin’…and sometimes….that gets me into trouble. :))

TeaBrat

Scott, I don’t think so. It tastes pretty much the same as I remember it in the tea shop. But I use my tetsubin for black tea and puerh mostly.

ScottTeaMan

oh ok…..also I found this link…….Does the tea look like this?

http://www.finestfast.com/-p-76.html

There are links with this named tea, but I don’t know if it is the tea you have exactly.

TeaBrat

nope… not it

ScottTeaMan

I’ve ordered alot of tea from Upton’s, and they reformatted their settings, and some of my reviews I had posted there are gone, along with the pics. I:o/

Fair warning would’ve been nice so I could’ve saved them & posted here. It’s still possible from memory, but some nuances will be lost!

Charles Thomas Draper

I would say a 30 second steep is a good rule for something that old.

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My profile pic is of a pink dahlia at Golden Gate Park.

Hobbies include: tea, making art, animals, vegan things, buddhism, nature, creativity, books, writing, cooking, meditation, yoga.

I am a fan of many different teas but my favorites are blacks and oolongs, chai, also like darjeeling and pu-erh. I’n always learning and expanding my horizons!

Dislikes include: bergamot, jasmine, highly tannic or bitter teas, overly judgmental and bitter people. :)

Live in San Francisco, I’m a SINK (single income, no kids) and love the urban life, but traveling out to the middle of nowhere is always fun too.

I tend to not drink things I know I will hate so a lot of my tea ratings are on the higher side. Here’s my rating system, sorta

95-100 I love this tea and would like to keep it around

94-90 An excellent tea which I may or may not repurchase

89-80 Pretty good, above average

79-70 Acceptable

69-60 Mundane – Will probably drink it if I have it

59-50 Ick

49 and below Nasty

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San Frandisco

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http://sanfrantea.teatra.de

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