90

The cake smells like chocolate trees. It flakes apart easily.

I rinsed with boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes before tasting.

Gaiwan, boiling, 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60

I leafed this quite a bit more than usual because I’ve discovered I generally like more leaf in pu erh. That made for interesting colors. The first couple of steeps were a sort of dirty gold, then became more orange-gold.

The flavor is richer than some other pu erhs I have had recently, and the tea is also a bit astringent. It has an interesting array of flavors ranging from the white chocolatey note to a smoky one, to a caramel-espresso one. There’s even something fruity about it, though I can’t categorize it — it’s not berry, melon, or stone fruit — more of a generic suggestion of fruit.

I’m quite taken with this one. Even though its flavor profile isn’t terribly different from other shengs, there’s something qualitatively “more” about it that makes it special to my taste buds.

Flavors: Astringent, Butter, Caramel, Chocolate, Espresso, Fruity, Smoke, White Chocolate

Preparation
Boiling
derk

The way the tea sits in my mouth and body play a large role in my puerh experiences, giving certain ones more oomph.

__Morgana__

I totally get what you mean. There’s also a lot of scope to experiment with the amount of leaf, I think. I am looking forward to more heavily leafing some of the ones I thought were good but not outstanding to see if that makes a difference.

derk

Cool, I look forward to your results. Do you just break off a chunk and call it good or do you measure? I’ve found my sweet spot to be around 6-7g/100mL for most pu.

__Morgana__

I was measuring before, but the last few times I did it visually. Filled the 50ml gaiwan to about a third, maybe a bit more.

derk

That’s probably only a gram, no more than two, pretty low leaf amount for that volume. Yeah, you might like a higher leaf for some of those other puerh!

__Morgana__

When i was measuring, I was doing about 2.7g, so what I am getting by eyeballing is more than that…

derk

It’s a good thing I’m not eyeballing then!

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Comments

derk

The way the tea sits in my mouth and body play a large role in my puerh experiences, giving certain ones more oomph.

__Morgana__

I totally get what you mean. There’s also a lot of scope to experiment with the amount of leaf, I think. I am looking forward to more heavily leafing some of the ones I thought were good but not outstanding to see if that makes a difference.

derk

Cool, I look forward to your results. Do you just break off a chunk and call it good or do you measure? I’ve found my sweet spot to be around 6-7g/100mL for most pu.

__Morgana__

I was measuring before, but the last few times I did it visually. Filled the 50ml gaiwan to about a third, maybe a bit more.

derk

That’s probably only a gram, no more than two, pretty low leaf amount for that volume. Yeah, you might like a higher leaf for some of those other puerh!

__Morgana__

When i was measuring, I was doing about 2.7g, so what I am getting by eyeballing is more than that…

derk

It’s a good thing I’m not eyeballing then!

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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