Cory Schmidt Send Message

The Leaf: short, tight, slightly curled, and uniform in size. The color is black to dark brown with only a slight tinge of bronze here and there. The scent is deep and dark with strong malty and peppery overtones.

The Brew: The liquor is a dark golden brown; clear with a medium quantity of visible fuzz. The aroma is deep and malty, similar to a rich Assam. It seems to have some undertones of chocolate and pepper. The taste is strong with a unique slight bitterness. I detect a slight cedar character as well, which might be associated with the peppery aroma. The mouthfeel is fairly dry, and the aftertaste lasts for a long time leaving a roasted maltiness character throughout the mouth.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: Very thin, needle like, with half being dark black and the other being golden and feathery. The scent is very strong with notes of malt, honey, cocoa, and dry wood.

The Brew: The liquor is a golden brown, clear but with lots of leaf fuzz floating about. The aroma is similar to the leaf but lighter with a slightly more sweet malty tone. The flavor is medium in strength, not too light, but also not overpowering. There is no bitterness and the mouthfeel is very soft. A slight aftertaste lingers for a short time. The flavor is in line with the aroma but with a slight smokiness incorporated as well.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: small, long, tightly curled; almost needle-like. Mostly dark black leaves, with a few occasional golden ones in the pile. The scent is good and strong with a definite malty and slightly sweet tone.

The Brew: The liquor is nice and golden brown, crystal clear, but with lots of visible fuzz from the leaves. The aroma is very apparent and almost identical to the leaf scent. The flavor is very malty, rich, and has an underlying smokiness to it. Leaves only a slight dryness on the tongue, but also leaves a nice lingering aftertaste throughout the mouth.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: densely compressed with marbled black, dark brown, and light brown leaves. All leaves are somewhat similar in size and well degraded. The scent is light but earthy like potting soil, but not musty.

The Brew: The color is ruby red to brown in hue, but crystal clear with no murkiness. The scent is light but the same as the leaf, earthy and rich. The flavor is medium strength, but clean leaving only a slight dryness on the tongue. Most of the flavor is felt on the back of the tongue, earthy, dark, soil-like with a slight bitterness and a slight sourness on the sides of the tongue.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: Very long and mostly unbroken with some stems present. The scent is light but is reminiscent of a green tea or oolong more so than a pu-erh. Almost a light fluffy texture to the pile, with no compression marks visible.

The Brew: The color is unlike pu-erh showing a fairly light brownish green hue much like a highly roasted green tea or oolong. The aroma is nice and apparent with a slight sweetness; woody and roasted tones mixed with dry grass. The flavor is overly bitter, making it difficult to distinguish any of the other characteristics. However, I can taste roasted straw, slight smokiness, and bitter melon.

I drink all of my teas cold.

Note: This was the first time dealing with this type of pu-erh. When I opened the package, I was very surprised as to how the leaves looked. Considering this, I decided to brew the tea according to the package instructions, 100C for 5 to 10 minutes. I feel this was too long, and resulted in the overly bitter flavor. For a better brew I think 2 minutes would suffice.

The Leaf: Very long, flat, and light. buds and fuzz very visible. generally a fresh green look to them. scent is not weak, with a nice roasted grass fragrance

The Brew: The liquor is very light green, not cloudy, almost white or clear. The aroma is quite strong with fresh grass and roasted tones. The taste is nice and grassy but light with a light body. leaves almost no dryness on the tongue.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: very flat, unbroken, and slightly browned. visible buds, and fuzz. nice light fragrance like roasted grass.

The Brew: The liquor is very light green, almost white or clear with no cloudiness. The aroma is very light, but similar to the leaf. The flavor is also light but has a very smooth mouthfeel. slightly bitter, but with a nice grassy taste. leaves your mouth with a slight dryness.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: The size of the pearls is slightly smaller than a standard marble. Nice even fragrance of malt and chocolate. The high percentage of golden buds included gives each ball a marbled look contrasting them with the darker fully oxidized leaves. Some impressions left on each ball, supposedly during pressing, suggest they were made by machine or gloved hands.

The Brew: The liquor is golden brown and slightly cloudy. The aroma is similar to the leaf, malty and chocolaty. The flavor is very complex with tones of chocolate, malt, grain, spirits, and prune. Fairly sweet, but also leaves a slight dryness on the tongue. The flavor is full-bodied, but also quite bright and light. Aftertaste is subtle but lingers for a while.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: Very long, curled and mostly unbroken brownish to grey brown. When brewed they turn a slightly more greyish green color and unfurl only slightly for the first brew.

The Brew: The aroma is light and sweet, but not easy to detect. The taste is also very light but has a tannin quality much like red wine and is slightly bitter. The liquor is pale yellowish brown.

Note: I brewed this tea at a very skewed ratio weight-wise. The package of leaves was only 7 grams, but resulted in roughly 4 tsp by volume. Normally, the ratio I use for any tea I make is 1tsp/250ml.

I drink all of my teas cold.

The Leaf: They have a nice, strong, fresh aroma typical of good Assam tea. The leaves are cut fairly small, but still give a coarse look with very jagged edges and folds. There are some golden tips visible as well, composing maybe 10% of the total leaves.

The brew: It has a nice deep brownish red liquor, minimal basic aroma, and a bold flavor that lingers. The aroma is very light, but has a slight sweetness to it. The flavor is typical of an Assam, very malty, almost woody, slightly bitter with an aftertaste that is a lesser version of this. The mouthfeel is slightly thick with a definite dryness that lasts a little too long and is too strong.

I drink all of my teas cold.